蜜螞蠦班 Seven Insect Sons
有名叫做蜜、螞、蠦、班、蜢、蜡、蜻：蜜是蜜蜂，螞是螞蜂，蠦是蠦蜂，班是班毛，蜢是牛蜢，蜡是抹蜡，蜻是蜻蜓。有名叫做蜜、蚂、蠦、班、蜢、蜡、蜻：蜜是蜜蜂，蚂是蚂蜂，蠦是蠦蜂，班是班毛，蜢是牛蜢，蜡是抹蜡，蜻是蜻蜓。
逐句解 Line by line
By name they were called Bee, Hornet, Cockroach-Wasp, Spanish-Fly, Grasshopper, Wax-Insect and Dragonfly: Bee was the honeybee, Hornet was the horse-hornet, Cockroach-Wasp was the lu-wasp, Spanish-Fly was the blister-beetle, Grasshopper was the ox-grasshopper, Wax-Insect was the wax-moth, and Dragonfly was the dragonfly.
Seven names, then the same seven expanded. 蠦 is lú, and it carries a technical problem: its simplified form sits outside the range most fonts cover, so this edition keeps the traditional shape in both views rather than show an empty box. The list is a real entomology and the joke is the pedantry — the narrator will not let a single name stand unglossed.
Seven insect sons, named and then explained, one by one, in thirty-nine characters. It is the most pedantic sentence in the chapter and it is deliberate.
The structure is the joke. Give the seven short names; then, in case anyone was unsure, give each one again with its full species. Bee is the honeybee. Dragonfly is the dragonfly. The narrator is doing a roll-call and refuses to abbreviate.
One of these names carries a technical problem worth mentioning. Its character is rare enough that the modern simplified form falls outside the range of characters most fonts include, and a reader would get an empty box instead of a word. This edition keeps the traditional shape in both views so the name stays readable.