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• 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 IV.

THE ODES OF YUNG.*

I. iv. 1.

THE FAITHFUL WIDOW.†

• • There let it rock, the boat of yew,
  • Midway upon the Ho.
  • One with the twin front locks‡ (I knew)—
  • My rightful mate—and all life through
  • I vow none else to know.
  • My mother, kind as Heaven§ is she,
  • Yet O, she little knows of me!
• • There let it rock, that boat of yew,
  • Now by the river’s brim.
  • One with the twin front locks I knew—
  • One only—and I vow to do
  • Till death no wrong∥ to him.
  • My mother, kind as Heaven is she,
  • Yet O, she little knows of me!

I. iv. 2.

VILE DOINGS AT COURT.*

• • On the wall when the thorn-crop† clambers,
  • No brushing will break its hold.
  • And the tales of my lady’s chambers
  • Are such as may ne’er be told.
  • What might be told
  • Would the vilest scenes unfold.
• • On the wall where the thorn-crop clambers,
  • It cannot be banished well.
  • On the tales of my lady’s chambers
  • One may not minutely dwell.
  • On all to dwell
  • Were a weary tale to tell.
• • On the wall when the thorn-crop clambers,
  • Who’ll bind and bear it away?
  • And the tales of my lady’s chambers
  • Who’ll venture to sing or say?‡
  • To sing or say
  • The whole, were a shameful lay.

I. iv. 3.

FAINT PRAISE.*

• • A ruler’s wife—to the end of life!
  • See her the queenly head-dress wear,—
  • Six jewelled pins within the hair;
  • What elegance, what grace is there,
  • The grace of nature’s hills and streams!
  • And O, the figured robe her form beseems.
  • Yet, with her morals all amiss,
  • What make we of the like of this!
• • How rich and rare, how rich and rare
  • Is her festal robe,—like pheasants’ plumes!
  • And like a cloud her black hair looms.
  • False locks she scorns, nor e’er assumes.
  • Of precious stones her ear-plugs are;
  • A comb of ivory binds her hair;
  • Her lofty forehead, O so white and fair!
  • Ah so! celestial, sure, is she!
  • Ah so! then O—the Deity!
• • How brilliantly, how brilliantly
  • Her robes of ceremony shine,
  • Worn o’er the crape and lawn so fine,
  • While for her warmth the whole combine.
  • Arched are her brows, and bright her eyes,
  • And broad and full her temples nobly rise.
  • Ha, clearly such a one may stand,
  • For beauty, foremost in the land!

I. iv. 4.

PROMISCUOUS LOVE-MAKING.

• • When I go to pluck the dodder,*
  • Fields and lanes of Mei† among,
  • Guess you where my thoughts there wander?
  • To the fair—the eldest Kiang.‡
  • Tryst she gave me at Sang-chung,§
  • Was to meet me at Shang-kung;
  • And would see me to K‘i-shang.
• • When I go a-gathering wheat-ears,
  • North of Mei’s the place for me.
  • Guess you where my thoughts there wander?
  • To the fair—the eldest Yih.
  • Tryst she gave me at Sang-chung;
  • Was to meet me at Shang-kung;
  • And would see me to K‘i-shang.
• • When I go to crop the shallots,
  • East of Mei I lounge along.
  • Guess you where my thoughts there wander?
  • To the fair—the eldest Yung.
  • Tryst she gave me at Sang-chung;
  • Was to meet me at Shang-kung;
  • And would see me to K‘i-shang.

I. iv. 5.

FAMILY CONFUSION.*

• • Quails consort and fly with quails,
  • Jays will only join with jays;—
  • I must own as elder brother
  • One who takes to wanton ways.
• • Jay will only have his jay,
  • Quail goes with his consort quail;—
  • One who takes to wanton courses
  • I must as “my lady” hail.

I. iv. 6.

THE DILIGENT RULER.†

• • When Ting‡ had reached its highest point,
  • Then ’gan he build Ts‘u’s palace walls;
  • The sun he took for compass true,§
  • Then ’gan he build Ts‘u’s palace halls;
  • Planted the hazel then, and chestnut-tree,
  • Dryandras, hardwoods, and the varnish-tree,
  • Anon to cut for lutes∥ —for minstrelsie!
• • He climbed yon ancient ruined walls,*
  • That thence he might his Ts‘u behold:
  • There lay before him Ts‘u and T‘ang,†
  • High hills and eminences bold;
  • Descended then and viewed the mulberry ground,
  • Asked of the oracle, good omens found,
  • And in the end with true success was crowned.
• • Then when the genial rains had fall’n,
  • He’d bid his groom, while yet ’twas night
  • And stars were shining, drive him forth,
  • And in the mulberry lands alight.‡
  • And yet indeed his people were not all§
  • That for his watchful diligence would call:
  • Three thousand mares he reared, and stallions tall!

I. iv. 7.

REFORMS IN LOVE AND MARRIAGE.∥

• • When comes a rainbow¶ in the East,
  • None dares to raise a finger;
  • For maidens now go forth and wed,
  • Nor with the home-folk linger.
• • And when at morn one spans the West,
  • Ere noon the rain will tarry;*
  • But maidens leave the home-folk now,
  • And go their ways and marry.
  • But oh, what kind of folk are those,
  • For marriage always yearning,
  • While greatly lacking faith and trust,†
  • Nor laws of Heaven discerning!

I. iv. 8.

MANNERS MAKE THE MAN.‡

• • See, even a rat hath hide and hair;
  • And is a man of manners bare?
  • Nay, sure, a man of manners bare
  • More fitly dead than living were!
• • See in the rat how tooth fits tooth!§
  • And shall a man appear-uncouth?
  • Nay, better than be thus uncouth,
  • To look for death, not life, forsooth!
• • See the rat’s form—from tail to head.
  • And shall a man appear ill-bred?
  • Nay, if a man be so ill-bred,
  • More soon the better were he dead!

I. iv. 9.

HONOUR TO THE WORTHY.*

• • High they raise the oxtail-pennons,
  • There on Tsun’s suburban moor,
  • Staffs all wreathed with white silk wreathing;
  • Noble teams to meet him—four!†
  • Yonder worthy, what will he
  • Render for their courtesie!
• • High they raise the falcon-banners,
  • Nearer to the town they drive,
  • Staffs all wreathed with white silk ribbons,
  • Noble teams to meet him—five!
  • Yonder worthy, what shall he
  • Give them for their courtesie!
• • High they raise the feathered streamers,
  • Now upon the walls to fix,—
  • Staffs all wreathed with white silk bandlets,—
  • Now the noble teams are six!
  • Yonder worthy, how shall he
  • Answer to their courtesie!

I. iv. 10.

THWARTED.‡

• • O forth would I gallop and homeward fly
  • To cheer in his trouble my lord of Wei;
  • And urging my steeds the livelong day
  • Ts‘o’s city would reach without delay.
  • But an officer hies o’er stream and plain,
  • And I, to my sorrow, must needs remain.
• • My pleasure, it seems, is not your own;
  • My hopes of return ye have overthrown.
  • Yet, though it is plain ye disapprove,
  • The thoughts of my heart no power can move
  • My pleasure is not your own, it seems,
  • And now can I not recross the streams.
  • Yet, though ye approve not, as ’tis plain,
  • The thoughts of my heart can none restrain.
• • I’d climb to the top of yonder hill,
  • And gather the lily that care can kill.*
  • We women are full of wants (ye say),
  • And every want must have its way.
  • But wrong are ye there, ye men of Hiu;
  • And childish and headstrong all are you!
• • I’d travel across the wide, wide plain,
  • Now clad in its rich long waving grain,
  • And make my appeal to the sovereign† State;
  • For whose is the cause—the need so great?
  • Ye officers, ye of high degree,
  • Say not that the error lay with me:
  • For the counsels of all of you combined
  • Fall short of the course I had in mind.

[* ]On the name Yung see note on I. iii. page 54.

[† ]The widow’s name is given as Kung-Kiang. Her husband, Kung-poh, son of the Marquis Hi (bc 854-813), died early, and her mother wished her to marry again, contrary to what she regarded as right and proper. She made a solemn vow to remain true to her departed husband, and here commemorates the fact.

[‡ ]During the lifetime of the parents, sons wore their hair in two tufts over the temples.

[§ ], Mu ya t‘ien chi. Cf. II. v. 8, last line of 4th stanza.

[∥ ]The “wrong” meant here is re-marriage. To abstain from this “wrong” was, and is still accounted a great virtue in China.

[* ]Contrast with the last. Swân-Kiang (see on I. iii. 18) was now a widow, and had consented to live with Hwan, the son of her late husband by a former wife. The people condemned this as incest, but dared only speak of it indirectly.

[† ]I have coined this name for a prickly creeper which has not yet, so far as I know, been identified.

[‡ ]Tuh () here to recite, or hum over.

[* ]Satire on Swân-Kiang. The satire consists probably in the exaggeration of her beauty, but chiefly in the concluding lines of the first and second stanzas, which so quaintly spoil all that goes before and after.

[* ]The names of the plants seem to be of little importance, only introduced in the original to rhyme with the names of the women.

[† ]A district in Wei.

[‡ ]The eldest daughter of the house that bore that family name. So with Yih and Yung. All three were great names; why introduced here in a popular love song? Probably it is satire, and aimed by the people at their superiors.

[§ ]The names in the last three lines are those of small localities in the district of Mei.

[* ]The wanton ones are Swân-Kiang and Hwan, living together as stated in note on Ode 2 of this Book. The piece is intended as satire, the words being put into the mouth of Sŏ (step-brother of Hwan), who was then ruling, and ought not to have permitted such conduct in the palace. Bitter satire it is, and truly Chinese!

[† ]Duke Wăn—about bc 660. Soon after the time of Duke Swân the State of Wei almost collapsed, and its capital was in ruins; but the country found a reformer in this new ruler Wăn, otherwise known as Wei (), a son of Hwan and Swân-Kiang.

[‡ ]Ting was a small constellation composed of some stars in Pegasus. Its culmination at the termination of husbandry-work signalled the proper time for commencing building operations.

[§ ]Lit., measuring or computing by the sun; the aspect of the palace was thus determined.

[∥ ]This probably points to the duke’s love of music.

[* ]The walls of the old capital.

[† ]A city on the hills of Ts‘u.

[‡ ]Scil., to urge and encourage the labourers in their work.

[§ ]I believe this is the correct translation of this concluding passage, though it differs from all I have so far seen. It agrees also with most native commentaries.

[∥ ]Said to refer to the change in the people’s morals brought about by Duke Wăn of Wei.

[¶ ]The rainbow was supposed to be the result or offspring of some irregular union between the male and female principles in nature (Yin and Yang). People were ashamed now to point at the rainbow; greater modesty was seen, and marriage unions were formed according to the established rules.

[* ]The meaning seems to be that irregular or unlawful love does not last long. This is contrary to our ideas of “a rainbow in the morning,” so far as the rain is concerned.

[† ]Fearing the time may never come, and taking the matter into their own hands, instead of leaving it to the parents.

[‡ ]See note explanatory of the last Ode. This refers to the altered tone of manners rather than morals. Man without manners was a self-contradiction; and no more should a man continue to live without them than a rat without skin, teeth, and limbs. In the original the words and (i, chi, and li), all represent, with slightly different shades of meaning, the same thing,—propriety in the outward conduct.

[§ ]Lit., “See, the rat has teeth”; but the word for teeth often has the sense given above.

[* ]There are conflicting opinions as to the meaning of this Ode, even amongst the old Chinese interpreters. It seems to illustrate, further, the good effects of the rule of Duke Wăn of Wei;—showing the kind of welcome accorded to men of worth, and showing also that the visits of such would be attended with profit to those who entertained them.

[† ]It will be observed that as one of these worthies approaches a town the attendance upon him gradually increases.

[‡ ]A daughter of Swân-Kiang, married to the baron of Hiu, hears of the troubles in Wei, her native State (see note on Ode 6), and wishes to return home to condole and consult with her brother in his distress; this was not permissible, her parents being dead, and some great officer was despatched instead; but, unlike another princess of Wei (see I. iii. 14), she clung to her wish as being pardonable under the circumstances, and here expostulates with the ministers of Hiu, although yielding to their decision.

[* ]The “Mang” () is described as a “mother-of-pearl” lily, supposed to have the quality of dissipating cares. The words “that care can kill” are added in the translation, as otherwise no meaning would be conveyed.

[† ]Lit., the great State. This would be that of Ts‘i, then the most powerful.