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 XV.

THE ODES OF PIN.*

I. xv. 1.

LIFE IN PIN IN THE OLDEN TIME.†

• • In the seventh month wanes the heat,‡
  • In the ninth are garments doled,
  • Through the eleventh§ beat winter winds,
  • Through the twelfth ’tis chill and cold.
  • How without the clothes and wraps
  • Could one see the twelvemonth close?
• • Through the first, at sock and share
  • (For the ploughing we prepare).
  • Through the second—lilting toes!*
  • And with wives and children now
  • Picnic we upon South Lea.†
  • Comes the Steward, pleased is he.
• • In the seventh month wanes the heat,
  • In the ninth the clothes we dole.
  • In the sunny days of Spring
  • Comes the warbling oriole;
  • Maids their dainty baskets seize,
  • And along the narrow paths
  • Seek the supple mulberry-trees.
  • Spring days lengthen—all begin
  • The white wormwood to get in.‡
  • One maid’s heart feels a smart:
  • Time is hastening—she must soon
  • With the Master’s son depart.§
• • In the seventh month wanes the heat,
  • In the eighth thrive rush and reed.
  • When the silkworm-month arrives,∥
  • Then the mulberry leaves we need;
  • Then with axe and bill we go
  • Laying vagrant branches low;
• • Virgin trees we strip, not strike.
  • In the seventh month pipes the shrike.
  • In the eighth, from spinning-wheel
  • Dark and yellow threads we reel,
  • While our brightest red is spun
  • To adorn the Master’s son.
• • In the fourth month seeds the grass;
  • In the fifth cicadas call;
  • In the eighth is harvest-tide;
  • In the tenth the leaves will fall.
  • Through the eleventh we hunt the brock;
  • Fox and wild-cat, too, we take;
  • The young Master’s furs they make.
  • In the twelfth the Meet takes place,*
  • Where brave deeds once more be shown;
  • To our lot the young boars fall,
  • To the Master’s the full-grown.
• • In the fifth month hoppers grind;†
  • In the sixth their wings they find;
  • In the seventh out in the fields,
  • In the eighth in eaves o’erhead,
  • In the ninth about the door,
  • In the tenth beneath the bed,—
  • So do crickets entrance gain.
  • Holes be filled, smoked out the rats,
  • Windows stopped, doors plastered o’er.
  • Ah! wife and children mine,
  • So things tell the year’s decline!
  • Go indoors, and there remain.
• • In the sixth month eat we plum and grape;
  • In the seventh we boil the pulse and rape;
  • In the eighth, date-trees are stripped;
  • In the tenth, the rice is clipped,
  • And Spring-drinks are brewed from it
  • For old age’s benefit.
  • In the seventh we melons eat;
  • In the eighth we cut the bottle-gourd;
  • In the ninth the seed from hemp is stored,
  • And lettuce cut, and fuel of worthless wood,
  • And the farm-labourers supplied with food.
• • In the ninth month we beat down the space
  • In the garden for the stacking-place;
  • In the tenth we bring therein the grain,—
  • Millets, early sown and late,
  • Rice, and hemp, and pulse, and wheat.
  • Ah, my tillers of the soil,
  • When our crops are all got in
  • Home you go to other toil,
  • To the homestead industries,—
  • Thatching while you have the light,
  • Twisting ropes when falls the night!
  • —Yet they scarce the housetop gain
  • When they must begin again
  • Sowing every sort of grain!
• • In the twelfth month boring ice,
  • How the thuds and cracks resound!
  • In the first we store it up
  • In the houses underground.
  • In the next, at early morn,
  • To the shrine a lamb, with leeks, is borne.*
• • In the ninth month frost is keen.
  • In the tenth we sweep the stackyards clean.
  • Then the pair of spirit-flasks are filled,
  • “Let the sheep and lambs,” we cry, “be killed.
  • Now up to the Master’s hall we’ll go,
  • And the horncup there upraise,
  • Wishing him long life, and endless days!”

I. xv. 2.

THE NEST, SO HARD TO BUILD, NOW ROBBED.*

• • O hawk! O robber-hawk!†
  • My young ones from me thou hast torn;
• • My nest I pray thee spare.
  • With toil and tender care
  • I reared those young ones now I mourn.
• • Ere rain-clouds hid the sky*
  • The mulberry bark I brought to bind
  • My lattice and my door.
  • You folks below no more
  • Would dare molest me, I opined.
• • With claws I pulled and tore,—
  • With tugging at each stalk I met,
  • With getting in my store,
  • My beak grew very sore:
  • Said I, “No house have I as yet.”†
• • My wings are worn and frayed;
  • All torn and tattered is my tail;
  • My nest is hard to gain,
  • Rocked, thrashed by wind and rain:—‡
  • Nought can I do but shriek and wail.

I. xv. 3.

SONG OF THE TROOPS ON RETURNING FROM THE EASTERN CAMPAIGN.*

• • To the hills in the East we marched away,
  • And ne’er came home for many a day;
  • When we did come back from the East again,
  • Then down came the dripping, drizzling rain.—
  • In the East when we talked of our return,
  • O then for the West our hearts would burn.
  • “Make ready the gear we then shall wear;—
  • No marching there, no gagging there!”†
  • Like caterpillars that creep and crawl
  • In mulberry grounds, there were we all,
  • And each in his lonely shelter slept,
  • Ay, under the waggons, too, we crept.
• • To the hills in the East we marched away,
  • And ne’er came home for many a day;
  • When we did come back from the East again,
  • Then down came the dripping, drizzling rain.—
  • And we thought of our creeping gourds, and how
  • Their fruit must be over the eaves by now,—
  • Of the woodlice roaming the rooms by scores,
  • Of the spiders weaving across the doors,
  • Of our paddocks now the haunt of the deer,
  • With the glowworms flickering far and near—
  • O sure there was cause for grave concern,
  • And well might we long for our return.
• • To the hills in the East we marched away,
  • And ne’er came home for many a day;
  • When we did come back from the East again,
  • Then down came the dripping, drizzling rain.—
  • On the ant-hills were the white cranes crying,
  • In their rooms our wives were sadly sighing,
  • As they sprinkled and swept, and filled each crack,
  • When suddenly we from our raid came back!
  • And there, on their sticks from the chestnut-tree,
  • Grew the bitter-gourds all orderly,
  • Though three long years by now had passed
  • Since eyes we had set upon them last!
• • To the hills in the East we marched away,
  • And ne’er came home for many a day;
  • When we did come back from the East again,
  • Then down came the dripping, drizzling rain.—
  • Now orioles are to be seen in flight;
  • Far and near their wings flash in the light.
  • And maids are out on their wedding-day,
  • On ponies chestnut or white-flecked bay,
  • Wearing sashes that mothers have fondly tied,
  • And paraphernalia much beside.
  • If so happy these younger ones we see,
  • Then what must the meeting of old ones be!

I. xv. 4.

THE SAME.

• • All broken are our axes,*
  • All shattered are our bills.—
  • Chow-Kung with arms went Eastward
  • To right the country’s† ills.
  • Yet pity for our people
  • His heart most surely fills.‡
• • All broken are our axes,
  • Our chisels suffered harm.—
  • Chow-Kung with arms went Eastward
  • The country to reform.
  • Yet showed he for our people
  • A sympathy most warm.
• • All broken are our axes.
  • Our picks in sorry plight.—
  • Chow-Kung with arms went Eastward
  • The country to unite.
  • His pity for our people
  • We marked with true delight.

I. xv. 5.

COMPARISONS.*

• • How do we hew our axes’ helves?
  • Not without axes, sure, themselves.
  • What if to take a wife we mean?
  • Hopeless, save with a go-between.†
• • As in the hewing of helves, of helves,
  • Not far off are the types themselves,‡
  • Haply have I my lady met,
  • So is the feast in order set!§

I. xv. 6.

LAMENTS IN THE EAST AT THE DUKE’S RECALL.

• • We have netted the fish,—the rudd, the bream!
  • We have met with our Chief in the dragon-robe
  • And the skirts that with broideries gleam.
• • There the wild-geese wing o’er the isles their way!
  • And the Duke returns? Hath he here no room?
  • Must our guest but a brief time stay?*
• • Ha, the wild geese fly o’er the upland plain!
  • So the Duke must leave, to return no more!
  • Could our guest but two nights remain?
• • O for this was the dragon-robe then worn!
  • Yet O suffer our Duke not thus to go,
  • Nor allow us his loss to mourn!

I. xv. 7.

THE DUKE’S CALMNESS UNDER CALUMNY.†

• • The wolf upon his wame‡ would forward fall,
  • Or on his tail would backward tread.
  • The Duke, fine stately man, yet bears with all,
  • And calmly wears the slippers red.§
• • The wolf upon his tail would backward fall,
  • Or forward stumble on his wame.
  • The Duke, fine stately man, yet bears with all;
  • Untarnished is his honoured name.

PART II.

THE MINOR FESTAL ODES.

[* ]Pin was the name of a district in the west of the present province of Shen-si, and was the home of the ancestry of the Chow family from 1796 to 1325 bc

[† ]We might almost call the piece the “Georgies” of Pin. It is said to have been written by the famous Duke of Chow (Chow-kung,—son of King Wăn, and brother of King Wu) for his young nephew and ward, known afterwards as King Ch‘ing, so the date assigned to it would be between 1116 and 1112 bc (the period during which Chow-kung was Regent). The language is put into the mouth of the farmers, and is supposed to represent the life of the country people some centuries before its date.

[‡ ]Lit., sinks the Fire-star. The Heart of the Scorpion was so called. It is computed that about this time this star passed the meridian in August. The first month therefore would begin during our February.

[§ ]Lit., the first’s days. The nomenclature of some older calendar seems to have been used for the winter months; but I have continued the numbers known to us,—11th, 12th, 1st, 2nd.

[* ]i.e., following the plough. Any one who has seen ploughing in China through mud and water nearly knee-deep will understand this “lilting of toes.”

[† ]Lit., have open-air meals on the south-lying acres.

[‡ ]Or, white southernwood. Besides being used in sacrifice (see I. ii. 2) this herb served in some way to assist in the hatching of the silkworm.

[§ ]i.e., to be married.

[∥ ]No certain month, but that in which the silkworm creeps out, when it must be fed with mulberry leaves.

[* ]A general hunt, which was intended also to keep the people in training for war.

[† ]In this verse three separate insects seem to be named, the locust, the “spinner,” and the cricket; but the Chinese commentators say they are names of the same insect at different stages of its existence.

[* ]An offering to the Spirit who was supposed to preside over the cold season.

[* ]This Ode is said to have been written by the Duke of Chow to vindicate his fidelity at a time when he was accused of treachery towards the young King Ch‘ing (see Note 2 on last Ode). A little history must here be given, which will throw light on this as well as the remaining pieces in this Book.

King Wu, after his overthrow of the Shang dynasty and the establishment of that of Chow, gave to Wu-Kăng (the son of the last of the Shang kings) a small State in the East, and associated with him two of his own younger brothers (brothers therefore also of the Duke of Chow). After King Wu’s death these two brothers joined Wu-Kăng in a conspiracy against the young King Ch‘ing, their nephew, and also spread a rumour that laid the Duke under suspicion of infidelity. The young King believed the rumour, and showed to the Duke that he no longer had faith in him. The latter, instead of defending himself, composedly withdrew to the East, where he remained two years; but the conspiracy resulting now in open rebellion, he raised an army and took the field against the rebels, and vanquished them, after a long and severe contest, in which Wu-Kăng was killed, and also one of the Duke’s own brothers. Afterwards he wrote this Ode, which he presented to the King, showing his attachment to him, and how much he had done to consolidate the young dynasty.

[† ]On all hands I see this bird is called an owl; but the picture of it in the Urh-ya t‘u is decidedly that of a hawk. The hawk is evidently Wu-Kăng, the “young ones” the Duke’s brothers, and the “nest,” or “house” (v. 3) the infant dynasty of Chow.

[* ]This beautiful allegory Confucius has commented upon. (See Mencius II., Part i. IV. 3, Legge’s Classics.)

[† ]Many were still unwilling to abandon the fallen dynasty of Shang.

[‡ ]The young dynasty still in danger.

[* ]The Duke of Chow’s Expedition to quash the rebellion (see Note 1 on last Ode).

[† ]In the ranks the troops wore a kind of gag in the mouth to prevent their talking.

[* ]It is to be much doubted whether the implements in these verses are weapons of war. It is more probable that they were agricultural and other tools, which had become rusty, blunted, and almost useless during the men’s three years’ absence. At present, when a Chinese wishes to express the fact of his having been long absent from friends, he uses the two opening lines of this Ode.

[† ]Lit., the four States; but this phrase often means the four sides of the State.

[‡ ]He did not go to fight so much as to make peace, and thereby to show his love and pity for his country, then so disturbed.

[* ]This piece is thought by all Chinese critics to refer to the Duke of Chow. Its place in the book lends some support to their view. The substance of Chu-Hi’s comment is, that the first verse expresses the desire of the Eastern people to see the famous Duke, and that the second speaks of their satisfaction on seeing him. Victor von Strauss thinks that if we are to take the lines metaphorically, they may be interpreted thus:—the young monarch Ch‘ing is seeking full possession of his kingdom (the bride), and can do nothing without the Duke as his mediator and example; whilst with him as such all is brought about happily.

[† ]The match-arranger (see I. v. 4) was thus, even in the twelfth century bc, as now, a sine quâ non.

[‡ ]Scil., in the hand.

[§ ]“Feast,” lit., vessels of bamboo and earthenware, used in feasts convivial and sacrificial.

[* ]Lit., with you staying two nights. But the “you” is unimportant: the people are supposed to be talking with each other.

[† ]His serenity is contrasted with the action of a wolf at bay. For the calumny, see Note 1 on the second Ode.

[‡ ]Scoticé. Lit., dewlap.

[§ ]Red slippers were worn by the king and the chief princes.