The Online Library of Liberty

A project of Liberty Fund, Inc.

• Introduction to the Shi King. *
• Part I.: Characteristics of the States.
• Book I.: The Odes of Chow and the South. *
• Book II.: The Odes of ShÂu and the South. *
• Book III.: The Odes of P‘ei.
• Book IV.: The Odes of Yung. *
• Book V.: The Odes of Wei.
• Book VI.: The Odes of the Royal Domain. *
• Book VII.: The Odes of Ch‘ing. *
• Book VIII.: The Odes of Ts‘i. *
• Book IX.: The Odes of Wei. *
• Book X.: The Odes of T‘ang. *
• Book XI.: The Odes of Ts‘in. *
• Book XII.: The Odes of Ch‘in. *
• Book XIII.: The Odes of Kwai. *
• Book XIV.: The Odes of Ts‘Âu. *
• Book XV.: The Odes of Pin. *
• Part II.: The Minor Festal Odes.
• Book I.
• Book II.
• Book III.
• Book IV.
• Book V.
• Book VI.
• Book VII.
• Book VIII.
• Part III.: The Greater Festal Odes.
• Book I.: The “wĂn Wong” Decade. *
• Book II.: The “shang Min” Decade.
• Book III.: The “tang” Decade.
• Part IV.: Festal Hymns and Songs.
• Book I.: The Hymns of Chow. * First Section.
• Book II.: The Hymns of Chow. Second Section.
• Book III.: The Hymns of Chow. Third Section.
• Book IV.: The Festal Songs of Lu. *
• Book V.: The Festal Odes of Shang.

BOOK I.

THE ODES OF CHOW AND THE SOUTH.*

I. i. 1.

SONG OF WELCOME TO THE BRIDE OF KING WĂN.†

• • Waterfowl‡ their mates are calling,§
  • On the islets in the stream.
  • Chaste and modest maid! fit partner
  • For our lord (thyself we deem).
• • Waterlilies,* long or short ones,—
  • Seek† them left and seek them right.
  • ’Twas this chaste and modest maiden
  • He hath sought for, morn and night.
  • Seeking for her, yet not finding,
  • Night and morning he would yearn
  • Ah, so long, so long!—and restless
  • On his couch would toss and turn.
• • Waterlilies, long or short ones,—
  • Gather,† right and left, their flowers.
  • Now the chaste and modest maiden
  • Lute and harp‡ shall hail as ours.
  • Long or short the waterlilies,
  • Pluck† them left and pluck them right.
  • To the chaste and modest maiden
  • Bell and drum§ shall give delight.

I. i. 2.

INDUSTRY AND FILIAL PIETY OF WĂN’S QUEEN.

• • Rarely my creepers grow∥
  • Into the vale they flow:
  • O, ’tis a leafy sea!
• • Golden orioles, taking flight,
  • Now on the bosky trees alight,
  • Chirruping all with glee.
• • Rarely my creepers grow!
  • Into the vale they flow;
  • Thick are their leafy beds.
  • These will I cut, prepare, and boil,
  • Lawn, coarse and fine, that ne’er will soil,
  • Weaving out of their threads.
• • Then let the matron* know,—
  • Know I must homewards go;
  • So be my wardrobe clean;
  • So be my robes rinsed free from spot.
  • Which then be sullied, and which be not?
  • —Parents must aye be seen.

I. i. 3.

THE ABSENT HUSBAND.†

• • I picked and picked the mouse-ears,‡
  • Nor gained one basket-load;
  • My heart was with my husband:
  • I flung them on the road.
• • I climbed yon rugged mountain,
  • My ponies all broke down;
  • I filled my golden goblet
  • Long anxious thought to drown.
• • I climbed yon lofty ridges,
  • With my ponies black and bay;
  • I filled for me my horn-cup*
  • Long torture to allay.
• • I climbed yon craggy uplands,
  • My steeds grew weak and ill;
  • My footmen were exhausted:—
  • And here I sorrow still!

I. i. 4.

THE CREEPERS.†

• • In the South the trees bend low,
  • Creepers creeping o’er them.
  • Happy with her lord is she;
  • Fortune is behind, before them!
• • In the South the trees bend low;
  • Creepers wild caress them.
  • Happy with her lord is she;
  • Fortune followeth to bless them!
• • In the South the trees bend low,
  • Creepers winding round them.
  • Happy with her lord is she;
  • Fortune following hath crowned them.

I. i. 5.

THE LOCUSTS.*

• • How do the locusts crowd—
  • A fluttering throng!
  • May thy descendants be
  • Thus vast, thus strong!
• • How do the locusts’ wings
  • In motion sound!
  • May thy descendants show,
  • Like them, no bound!
• • How do the locusts all
  • Together cluster!
  • May thy descendants too
  • In such wise muster!

I. i. 6.

BRIDAL-SONG (General).

• • Ho, graceful little peach-tree,
  • Brightly thy blossoms bloom!
  • Go, maiden, to thy husband;†
  • Adorn his hall, his room.
• • Ho, graceful little peach-tree,
  • Thy fruit abundant fall!
  • Go, maiden, to thy husband;
  • Adorn his room, his hall.
• • Ho, graceful little peach-tree,
  • With foliage far and wide!
  • Go, maiden, to thy husband;
  • His household well to guide.

I. i. 7.

THE STALWART RABBIT-CATCHER.*

• • Deftly he sets his rabbit-nets;
  • Hear what blows, as he drives each stake!
  • Stalwart and strong,—’tis a warrior’s form:
  • Wall and shield for his Prince he’d make.
• • Deftly he sets his rabbit-nets,
  • Midway there where the most tracks be.
  • Stalwart and strong,—’tis a warrior’s form:
  • Right-hand man for his Prince were he.
• • Deftly he sets his rabbit-nets;
  • Right in the heart of the wildwood spread.
  • Stalwart and strong,—’tis a warrior’s form:
  • Such were a Prince’s heart and head!

I. i. 8.

SONG OF THE PLANTAIN-GATHERERS.*

• • To gather, to gather the plantain,
  • To gather it in, we go;
  • To gather, to gather the plantain,
  • See now we begin, yoho!
• • We gather, we gather the plantain,
  • Ho this is the way ’tis clipped!
  • We gather, we gather the plantain,
  • And so are the seeds all stripped!
• • We’ve gathered, we’ve gathered the plantain,
  • Ho now in our skirts ’tis placed;
  • We’ve gathered, we’ve gathered the plantain,
  • Now bundled, see, round each waist!

I. i. 9.

THE UNAPPROACHABLE MAIDENS.†

• • In the South are stately poplars,
  • Vainly there we rest for shade;
  • By the Han maids wander freely,
  • Vainly there love’s quest is made.
  • O the Han’s great breadth (divides us)!
  • Baffling to the diver’s craft.
  • O the Kiang’s great length (divides us)!
  • Baffling to the toiling raft.
• • Some are piling high their firewood;
  • O to cut away each thorn!
  • Others leaving to be married;
  • O to give their steeds their corn!
  • But the breadth of Han (divides us),
  • Baffling to the diver’s craft,
  • And the length of Kiang (divides us),
  • Baffling to the toiling raft.
• • Some are piling high their grass-loads;
  • O to cut the fragrant weed!*
  • Others leaving to be married;
  • O their two-year-olds to feed!
  • But the breadth of Han, &c.

I. i. 10.

WIFELY SOLICITUDE.†

• • Along the dykes of Ju I passed,
  • And lopped the twigs and boughs;
  • My soul was faint with its long fast:
  • I saw not yet my spouse.
• • Along the dykes of Ju I passed,
  • And lopped the shoots new-grown;‡
  • I saw my noble spouse at last,
  • He left me not alone.
• • Poor bream!§ thy tail is crimson now!
  • Kings’ biddings are severe—
  • Ordeals of fire!—yet aye hadst thou
  • Our land’s Protector near.

I. i. 11.

THE LIN.*

• • He, the lin showeth its hoof!
  • Prince, thy good sons are the proof:
  • Yea, ’tis the lin!
• • Ha, the lin showeth its brow!
  • Prince, noble grandsons hast thou:
  • Yea, ’tis the lin!
• • Ha, the lin showeth its horn!
  • True every relative born!
  • Yea, ’tis the lin!

[* ]By “Chow” is here meant the Royal State, or crown-lands, as distinguished from the Feudal States around. It was the district in which the ancient Chow family had had their seat from bc 1325 to King Wăn’s time (1231-1135). It lay between the rivers Han and Wai (the latter a tributary of the Ho, or Yellow River). By “the South” we are to understand the States or country south of this Chow.

[† ]The song is supposed to have been made by the inmates of the Palace, the ladies of the harêm, who, it seems, were far from being jealous of her: see Ode 4. Her retiring, gentle ways and chaste disposition made her a proper match as the principal wife of this virtuous prince. For an account of Wăn see the whole of Part III. Book I.; in Odes 2 and 4 of that Book will also be found reference to his bride. Her name was T‘ai-sze.

[‡ ]There is a difference of opinion as to the name of the birds: some say they are ospreys or fish-hawks, some a species of duck, found always in pairs and inseparable.

[§ ]Kwân, Kwân, onomatopoetic, like our “quack, quack”; but the Chinese commentators will have it that it is the harmonious call and response of the pairs of birds.

[* ]Strictly, an aquatic gentian,—marsh-flower; sought for its beauty and purity.

[† ]I give the meaning of these perplexing verbs as found in the old Chinese Dictionary, the Urh-ya.

[‡ ]“Lute” is here given for an instrument with a single octave of strings; “harp” for a larger instrument of the same kind with several octaves.

[§ ]Bells and drums were much used in old China as musical instruments.

[∥ ]The creeper here specified (Kŏ) has no English name. It is a species from the fibres of which a material for clothing is made.

[* ]A Court-Stewardess, or Mistress of Ceremonies.

[† ]Referred also to T‘ai-sze.

[‡ ]The “mouse-ear” is a Chinese edible fungus; so called from its shape.

[* ]A cup made of rhinoceros’ or unicorn’s horn.

[† ]The creeper is here again the Kŏ. The bending trees would naturally seem to represent the husband, and the creepers the wife. But, the speakers being the concubines, some suppose that T‘ai-sze is the tree, and those ladies themselves the creepers, delighting in her society, and showing themselves absolutely free from jealousy.

[* ]Under the figure of the locusts—prolific and harmonious—a wish is here expressed for one of the blessings most highly valued by the Chinese,—a numerous progeny; or, if such were already the case with T‘ai-sze, then it is congratulation:—i, translated “may” in the third line, means strictly “it is fitting.” This piece is also supposed to emanate from the Court ladies, who, it is said, were willing even to count their own children as hers!

[† ]The maiden is not thus directly addressed in the original; but the above is otherwise exactly literal.

[* ]Under King Wăn’s rule men of all, even the humblest, classes who did their duty well and energetically were qualifying themselves for promotion. Two men are said in his reign to have been raised to the rank of Ministers from their rabbit-trapping.

[* ]This simple song is inserted to illustrate the cheerful industry of the time of peace brought about by King Wăn. The women go out collecting ribgrass or plantains for medicinal or other purposes after their ordinary day’s labours are over, and sing as they go.

[† ]King Wăn had brought about a great reformation in the manners of the people, which heretofore had been very dissolute. The damsels in the neighbourhood of the river Han could now roam unmolested; men could not mix even with the grass-cutters and fuel-gatherers, under the pretence of helping them. It was as if the broad Han and the long Kiang (the Yang-tse) kept them asunder.

[* ]A kind of southernwood is here named in the original.

[† ]The husband had been absent with Wăn (who at that time was in charge of military affairs) during the wars of Shau, the last and most tyrannical sovereign of the Shang dynasty.

[‡ ]Meaning that a year had passed, and spring had come again.

[§ ]This last stanza is full of confused and certainly confusing metaphor. The bream’s tail is not naturally red, but is said to become so after lashing about in shallow waters: such was the husband’s sunburnt and beaten appearance when he returned. I have taken some liberty with the last three lines. In the original the characters literally mean

• Royal House like flames,
• Yet though like flames,
• Father, mother, full nigh.

The Chinese commentators treat the words “house” and “flames” as representing government with barbarity; and Chu Hi, one of the best of these commentators, thinks that the expression “father and mother” refers, by way of contrast, to the paternal authority and protection of Wăn.

[* ]The lin was a fabulous creature, somewhat corresponding to our unicorn. It was supposed to appear only when a race of good rulers arose, as the auspice of all good. Its hoofs hurt nothing living, it did not butt with its brow, and its horn, though formidable-looking, was tipped with soft flesh. The song is in praise of King Wăn’s descendants and kindred. Surely the lin had come! The descriptive “chan chan” in each second line in the original has various meanings assigned to it, which may justify the varied translation given above.