【作者按语】：刀郎新歌“罗刹海市”震撼全球。罗刹海市的故事出自蒲松龄的名著《聊斋志异》。这篇文章其实包括两段故事。第一段，马骥在罗刹国的尴尬处境；第二段，马骥在海市的美好时光。两段相比，罗刹故事只占全文三分之一，而海市故事则占全文三分之二。刀郎新歌唱的只是较短的罗刹故事，没有唱到较长的海市故事。第一段罗刹故事是在讽刺世道不公，颠倒黑白；第二段海市故事是在揭示荣华富贵皆为海市蜃楼，虚幻世界。闲来无事，我把第二段故事凝缩成一首汉英对照白话诗，与不了解海市故事的朋友分享。此外，笔者有感而发，以穿越方式又写了一首诗，算是外一首。目的之一，代蒲松龄感谢刀郎；目的之二，作为《聊斋志异》全译本的译者，倾诉一下出版的苦衷与艰辛。
独处诡异罗刹国，
马骥心中如刀割；
人说海市多商客，
散散心火也不错。
村人作伴乘舟去，
云水荡漾漂楼宇；
繁华盛况令人喜；
来一美男笑嘻嘻。
他本东洋三世子，
引领马骥进龙宫；
龙王相见恨晚迟，
喜嫁龙女给马生。
三年过后倍思亲，
告别龙宫即起身；
龙女知书达理人，
订立盟约送夫君。
恳求夫君别再娶，
我身绝不嫁二门；
婆婆还有一年寿，
下葬我会去哭坟。
腹中已有龙凤胎，
我愿赠予白玉莲；
三年之后海门外，
认领骨肉把家还。
马骥返乡吓坏人，
以为他已变鬼魂；
爱妻嫁人留遗恨，
纳一婢女为妾身。
一年之后慈母亡，
坟茔建在大山旁；
只见一女早已到，
为表孝心哭断肠。
葬礼完毕人未离，
狂风大作响霹雳；
女子腾云飞身去，
从此匿迹无消息。
蒲翁故事有暗示，
荣华富贵皆海市；
蜃楼一世飞腾达，
虚幻世界原是假。
罗刹故事很精彩，
海市美谈更新鲜；
恳请刀郎谱新曲，
再创辉煌在人间。
Song of the Sea Market
--The story Daolang did not sing.
Sincerely beg him to sing a new song.
（Another poem）
Song Deli
Alone in the strange land of Rakesha,
Ma Ji seemed to suffer a knife cutting in his heart;
People said there were many merchants in the sea market.
It's good to go there for a relax.
Ma Ji and the villagers went there by boat.
Splanded palaces were floating on the ripping clouds and water.
The splendor is delightful;
There came a handsome young man smiling happily.
As the the third son of the dragon king,
He led Ma Ji into the dragon palace.
The dragon King could not wait to meet him.
He happily married the dragon girl to Ma Ji.
Three years later, Ma Ji missed his family.
Saying goodbye he left the dragon Palace.
The dragon girl was wise and reasonable.
She made a covenant with her husband.
Begging her husband not to marry again,
And she would never marry the second man;
Her mother-in-law still had a year to live.
She said she’d go to her grave to cry showing filial piety.
The dragon lady already got regnant with twins.
She gave him the white jade lotus.
Three years later, he was to go outside the sea.
There he could take their kids to return home.
Ma Ji's return terrified people.
They thought he had become a ghost.
His loving wife got remarries.
He had to take a maid as a concubine.
A year later his mother died.
The tomb was built beside a big mountain.
A girl showed up early,
Crying to express her filial piety.
When the funeral was over,
Lighting flashed and thunder rumbled.
The woman flew away on a cloud,
There was no news anymore.
The story of Po Songling has a hint.
Glory and wealth are like the Sea market.
Going up in the world is like Mirage.
The unreal world is in fact a false one.
Rakshasa story is wonderful,
Sea Market tale is fresh.
I beg Daolang to compose a new song,
So as to create brilliance once more in the world.
蒲松龄问计刀郎
拙作《聊斋志异》12卷英语全译本，历尽坎坷，耗时15个年头，终于在2022年初完成，然而在出版问题上我却总是因为“自费”这个魔咒屡屡碰壁。其实不仅如此，我的其他宣扬中华经典文化的译稿，诸如《孟子》《大学》《中庸》《道德经》《孙子兵法》《菜根谭》《唐诗选译》《宋词选译》《元曲选译》等等，皆因“自费”这个魔咒而冷藏在电脑里长达一二十年之久，至今仍未得见天日。为此我寝食不安。就在我刚刚躺在床上睡意朦胧之际，心中有个声音指点迷津：“我们两个人何不一起恳求刀郎帮个忙？”声音情真意切，似是蒲松龄老先生。为此，我如醍醐灌顶，茅塞顿开，于是斗胆为蒲公捉刀代笔，写出下面这些颇具聊斋意味的文字，纾解胸中块垒。
老翁有书叫聊斋，
数百年里读不衰；
如今刀郎谱新曲，
把它唱到国门外。
我写故事近五百，
刀哥只唱半篇来；
半篇聊斋助马骥，
名声传到国门外。
鬼狐羡慕小马哥，
也想逛逛其他国；
各种办法都想过，
不读全书就没辙。
欣闻德利宋老兄，
一十五载翻译成；
可惜出版总落空，
鬼狐急得发了疯。
求过家乡父母官，
求过歌手玉军舰；
磕头拜佛真不少，
可怜真心付云端！
书稿优劣且不说，
不能自费都白扯；
只缘我在阴间里，
绞尽脑汁无结果。
我写神鬼狐狸精，
只在书中显神通；
自费魔咒一发力，
凶神恶煞也认怂。
有心阴间搞募捐，
助我聊斋过难关；
转念一想太颟顸，
冥币如何用人间？
欣闻刀郎罗刹歌，
撼天动地真红火！
感念之余问刀郎，
我的鬼狐咋出国？
昨夜宋兄发视频，
我的故居面貌新；
人山人海如朝觐，
都想看看我真身。
活着我是穷光蛋，
死了我是蛋光穷；
然而出版需自费，
恨我不是大富翁。
名人一死抬身价，
故居简陋胜美景；
人死灯灭何须看？
帮帮聊斋是正经。
阴曹地府已无策，
问计人间找刀哥；
小哥应有回天力，
千难万险全无敌。
随心所欲诗一首，
发到网上搁一搁；
刀郎能否看得到？
如今这事挺难说。
（2023年8月8日 美国新泽西）
Pu Songling asked Daolang for stratagem
As an old man I have a book called Liaozhai.
Having been read for hundreds of years,
Now it is being sung by Daolang a new song.
As a result it has become a book celebrity abroad.
I wrote nearly five hundred stories.
Daolang only sings half an article anyway.
But even this half a song did help Ma Ji a lot.
His fame has flown beyond the borders of the country.
The ghosts and foxes envy Brother Ma.
They also want to visit other countries.
I've thought of all kinds of ways.
You can't do it without reading the whole book.
Glad to hear of Brother Song.
He already translated the whole book in fifteen years.
It's a pity that publication always falls through.
The ghosts and foxes were mad with anxiety.
I begged help from the local magistrates in my hometown.
I also begged the singer Jade Warship for help.
Going everywhere I have worshiped many a Buddha.
But everything has gone to zero.
Regardless of the quality of the manuscripts,
Without self-financial-aid, nearly nothing can be done.
Only because I am in the grave,
I have racked my brains to no avail.
I wrote about ghosts and foxes.
But they are infinitely resourceful only in books.
The evil spell of self-financial-aid can smash everything.
Even the most ferocious gods confess disability.
I have the heart to raise money in the underworld
To help my Liaozhai overcome all the difficulties.
Yet on second thought I felt foolish.
How to use hell money in the human world?
I’m glad to hear Daolang singing about Rakshasa.
Shaking the earth it is really so popular!
Feeling greatly grateful to Daolang, I’d ask:
How do my ghosts and foxes go abroad?
Last night Bro Song posted a video.
My old home got a new look.
A sea of people appeared there like pilgrimage.
Everybody wants to see the real me.
I was a penniless vagrant when I was alive.
I am a vagrant penniless when I am dead.
Publication needs to be self-funded nevertheless.
I hate that I'm not a millionaire.
The death of a celebrity raises his price.
His humble old home trumps the beauty.
Why he needs others to see him after death?
Helping my Liaozhai is a serious thing.
There is no solution in the underworld.
I have to come onto the human world to find Bro Daolang.
He should have the power to save the situation.
He is invincible against all odds.
A poem was composed at will.
I’d like to post it on the Internet.
If or not Daolang can see it?
It's hard to say these days.
(New Jersey, USA, August 8, 2023)
