A pun on citrons

吾故人黎錞，字希聲，治《春秋》有家法，歐陽文忠公喜之。然為人質木遲緩，劉貢父戲之為“黎檬子”，以謂指其德，不知果木中真有是也。一日聯騎出，聞市人有唱是果鬻之者，大笑，幾落馬。

My old friend Li Chun [1015-1093], courtesy name Xisheng, was exemplary of his school in the study of the Autumn and Spring [Annals]; Lord Wenzhong, Ouyang [Xiu, 1007-1072] appreciated him. As a person, however, he was wooden and slow. Liu Gongfu [i.e. Liu Ban, 1022-1088] dubbed him “Limengzi”[1], referring to his temperament and not knowing there was actually a type of fruit with the same name. One day, [we] rode out together and heard someone calling out that name while selling fruit. [We] burst into laughter and almost fell off our horses.

今吾謫海南，所居有此，霜實纍纍，然二君皆入鬼錄。坐念故友之風味，豈復可見！劉固不泯於世者，黎亦能文守道不苟隨者也。

Now I live in exile in Hainan and have this [tree] at my residence, laden with fruit, while both my friends have entered the rolls of the underworld. Thus, [I] reflect on the flavour of my old friends — but how shall we meet again! Liu was certainly a man [whose spirit] will endure through the ages. Li was also accomplished in letters and devoted to the Way with uncompromising integrity.

* Su Shi 蘇軾 (1037-1101), Dongpo zhilin 東坡志林 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1981), 5-6.

[1] By “Limengzi”, Liu Ban means something like “Slow-witted Li”, but the word happens to refer to citrons. 

Citrons depicted on a hand scroll by Wang Chengpei 汪承霈 (d. 1805)

Image credit: National Palace Museum, Taipei

清汪承霈寫生　冊　香櫞。國立故宮博物院，台北，CC BY 4.0 @ www.npm.gov.tw