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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 VII.

II. vii. 1.

GUEST-SONG.—THE KING TO THE FEUDAL PRINCES.

• • Green-beaks flutter, hither, thither,
  • With their striped and mottled wings.—
  • Take your mirth, my lords, together;
  • Heaven’s bright blessing to you clings.
• • Green-beaks flutter, hither, thither,
  • With their necks of motley hue.—
  • Take your mirth, my lords, together;
  • Screens to all the States are you,—
• • Screens and bulwarks, and examples
  • To the hundred lesser lords;
  • Never hoarding, nought impeding,—
  • Shall not great be your rewards?*
• • In the curving cup of horn is
  • Mellow wine of choicest sort.
  • To the feast where nought of scorn is
  • Thousand blessings pay their court.

II. vii. 2.

RESPONSE OF THE PRINCES TO THE KING.

• • Pairs of teal are on the wing;
  • To the nets and snares decoy them.—*
  • Live ten thousand years, O king,
  • And in health† and wealth enjoy them!
• • Teal in pairs are by the weirs,
  • And their left wings they are folding.—
  • Live, O king, ten thousand years,
  • Long thy rightful blessings holding!
• • To the stalls the teams they bring,
  • And of grain and grass they give them.—
  • Live ten thousand years, O king;
  • And in health and blessing live them!
• • To the stalls the teams they bring,
  • And with grass and grain they feed them.—
  • Live ten thousand years, O king;
  • And may health and blessing speed them!

II. vii. 3.

THE KING ENTERTAINS HIS RELATIVES.

• • What manner of men are those,
  • The festal bonnets that wear,
  • As wine of thy choicest flows,
  • And food of thy best is there?
  • Not strangers are there, ah no,—
  • None other than kin of thine:—
  • (Like) the dodder and mistletoe
  • O’erspreading the yew and pine!
  • While they saw not as yet their lord,
  • All restless and dull were they;
  • But now they have seen their lord,
  • Are any so glad, so gay?
• • What manner of men are those,
  • The festal bonnets that wear,
  • As wine of thy choicest flows,
  • And the season’s best is their fare?
  • Not strangers are there, ah no,—
  • Come hither have kinsmen all:—
  • The dodder and mistletoe
  • O’erspreading the pine-tree tall!
  • While they saw not as yet their lord,
  • They were but in doleful plight;
  • But now they have seen their lord,
  • Are any so cheered, so bright?
• • Ay, there upon (every) head
  • The festal bonnet is found;
  • And thy wines are the choicest made,
  • Thy viands in piles abound.
  • Not strangers are there, but all
  • By blood or by marriage are kin.
  • —Oh, like as when snow will fall,
  • As sleet it will first begin,—
  • Uncertain is death’s dark day,
  • Nor long may these meetings last;
  • So drink ye to-night and be gay,
  • At your worthy lord’s repast.

II. vii. 4.

THE MEETING OF THE BRIDE.

• • How creak and clatter my axles, O!
  • Intent on my sweet young bride I go,
  • Nor hunger nor thirst can know.
  • One famed for her worth comes meeting me,
  • And what though we lack good company?
  • We’ll feast and be merry—we!
• • Where close grow the trees in the woodland wide
  • The pheasants come roosting, side by side,
  • And prompt is my stately bride.
  • Bright lessons of virtue thou wilt bring;
  • We’ll feast, and thy praises I will sing;
  • My love to thee still shall cling.
• • And what though we lack the choicest wine,
  • And what if our food be not so fine,
  • And my worth add nought to thine?
  • O yet may we drink our fill, perchance,
  • O yet may we eat our fill, perchance,
  • O yet may we sing and dance.
• • Far up have I climbed to yon lofty brows,
  • And hewed for fuel the oak-tree boughs,
  • For fuel the oak-tree boughs,
  • With their foliage growing luxuriantly;
  • Yet seldom have I had glimpse of thee:—
  • Ah, now shall my heart beat free!
• • High mountains are looming on before,
  • And long is the road to be travelled o’er;
  • On, on then, my team of four!
  • Like strings on a lute my six reins are plied,
  • Anon shall I thee behold, my bride,
  • And my heart be gratified.

II. vii. 5.

SLANDERERS AT COURT.

• • Hear the green flies* buzzing, buzzing,
  • Settling on the hedge.—
  • Trust thou not, O gracious Ruler,
  • What in slander men allege.
• • Hear the green flies buzzing, settling
  • On the brake of thorn.—
  • By the sland’rers, so unceasing,
  • Is the land asunder torn.
• • Hear the green flies buzzing, settling
  • On each hazel bush.—
  • Ah, the sland’rers know no limit,
  • And us two asunder push.

II. vii. 6.

SCENES AT WINE-FEASTS.†

• • The feast begins,—on either hand
  • The guests by rank reclining;
  • In close array the dishes stand,
  • The meats and fruits aligning.
  • The wines are choice, and flavoured well,
  • The guests all harmonizing;
  • Placed on the stands are drum and bell;
  • All round are pledge-cups rising.
  • Then the great target is prepared,
  • And bows brought out and quivers,
  • And marksmen man with man are paired:—
  • “Now do your best endeavours!
  • Hit yonder central white who can
  • The cup* may order for his man.”
• • For flute-dance—drum, harmonicon
  • Unite to give the measure;
  • ’Mid all the rites this too is done
  • Th’ illustrious Sires to pleasure.
  • “For all the ritual thus gone through,
  • So full and so resplendent,
  • True blessings they confer on you,
  • And joy on each descendant.
  • Add mirth to joy. Each do his best”:—
  • (So speaks the Personator).
  • A cup is drawn then by a guest,†
  • And then comes in a waiter
  • Who pours them out the Cup of Peace;
  • And so the ceremonies cease.
• • The guests, when first they sit them down,
  • Look mild and most respectful,
  • And—ere their intellects they drown—
  • Sedate, of nought forgetful.
  • But when to great excess they go,—
  • Proprieties renouncing,—
  • Out of their seats they start, and oh
  • The capering and bouncing!
  • So is it,—while they drink not deep,
  • They bear themselves subduedly;
  • But when due bounds they overleap,
  • Behave themselves most rudely.
  • Ay, when to such excess they go,
  • No sense of order do they show.
• • Ay, when the guests have drunk their fill,
  • What bellowing, what brawling!
  • Dishes they overturn and spill
  • With posturing and sprawling.
  • ’Tis so, when thus far they have gone,—
  • Unconscious of offending,—
  • Caps all awry, and barely on,
  • Their gambols seem unending.
  • If so you drank, then went away,
  • ’Twould do you good, not hurt you;*
  • But so to drink and so to stay,
  • This means goodbye to virtue!
  • A wine-feast is a rare good thing
  • When men good manners to it bring.
• • Of all these drinkers, one’s a sot,
  • Another shuns the liquor;
  • And so an overseer is got,—†
  • Perhaps a counter-checker!
  • And when the sots all order scorn,
  • And sober ones are blushing,
  • Then the refractory ones they warn
  • To cease their headlong rushing,
  • To say not things they should not say,
  • Nor tell uncalled-for tattle;
  • For “hornless rams* do they display
  • Who make such sottish prattle.”
  • If with three cups the wits be gone,
  • What if you venture on and on?

II. vii. 7.

SONG OF THE FEUDAL PRINCES AT A ROYAL FEAST IN HÂU.†

• • ’Tis there, ’tis there in the pond-weed now,
  • The fish with the head so fine.—
  • And here, and here is our king in Hâu,
  • Hale and hearty, sipping his wine.
• • ’Tis there, ’tis there in the pond-weed now,
  • The fish with the mighty tail.—
  • And here, and here is our king in Hâu,
  • O’er his wine-cups hearty and hale.
• • There, there is the fish in the pond-weed now,
  • In its screen of reeds confiding.—
  • And here, and here is our king in Hâu,
  • In comfort, in peace abiding.

II. vii. 8.

THE KING’S RESPONSE (TO THE FOREGOING).

• • Who gathers beans, who gathers beans,*
  • In paniers round or square will store them.
  • My lords come hither to my court;
  • What gifts have I to set before them?
  • Though there be nought (beside) to give,
  • State-carriages (there are) and teams.
  • Nought more? Yea, the dark dragon robes,
  • And checkered, as each rank beseems.
• • Where bubbling wells gush forth in rills
  • Cress-gatherers there will surely be.—
  • My lords come hither to my court:
  • Their dragon-flags afar I see.
  • And as they flutter in the breeze,
  • Low sounds of bells float through the air;
  • The off-steeds now—now all the four—
  • I see them—yea, my lords are there!
• • The scarlet aprons grace their knees,
  • The buskins have they on below.
  • No tardy gifts† are those they bring,
  • On me, the Heaven-born, to bestow.
  • Right welcome are my noble Chiefs!
  • Heaven’s Son shall do for them his will.
  • Right welcome are my noble Chiefs:
  • Their fortune shall be brighter still.
• • All o’er these branches of the oak,
  • What wealth of foliage is displayed!—
  • Right welcome are the noble Chiefs
  • On whom the Royal State is stayed.
  • Right welcome are my noble Chiefs;
  • May each unnumbered blessings see
  • Good men and true are those servants too,
  • Who led and followed them to me.
• • The willow boats drift up and down;
  • Safe moor them by the ropes and lines.—
  • Right welcome are my worthy Chiefs;
  • Heaven’s Son their excellence divines.
  • Right welcome are my worthy Chiefs;
  • Substantial shall their fortune be.
  • O restful time! Away dull care!
  • Since these have hither come to me.

II. vii. 9.

LIKE KING, LIKE PEOPLE.

• • Bows all daintily braced with horn,—
  • Such have a swift rebound.
  • Kin by marriage and kin so born
  • Sundered should ne’er be found.
• • Let but thine own be sundered so,
  • So will thy people’s be:
  • Since the example thou dost show,
  • All of them follow thee.
• • Here be brethren of noble mind,
  • Generous, ay to excess;
  • Others, that lack the noble mind,
  • Meet to their own distress.
• • Let bad men each other offend,
  • Obstinate all remain;
  • Placed in honour, they ne’er unbend.
  • Ruin is in their train!
• • Let the old horse be a colt again,
  • Nought of the morrow he thinks.
  • So with the feeding of well-fed men,
  • So with their deep-drawn drinks.
• • Teach not a monkey to climb a tree;
  • That were like soiling mire.
  • If in great men good manners be,
  • Smaller to such aspire.
• • Falls of snow, be deep as they may,
  • Melt at the sun’s warm glance.
  • Who will not put the (vile) away
  • Sees but their pride advance.
• • Ay, let snow fall thick as it can,
  • Yet with the sun ’twill go.
  • Now are we like the Mâu or the Mân:*
  • This is what grieves me so.

II. vii. 10.

BEWARE THE DISCONTENTED ANGRY KING!

• • ’Neath the luxuriant willows†
  • Would ye not lie?
  • With the great deity‡ rampant,
  • Go ye not nigh!
  • Were it for me to appease him,
  • Sorely my powers ’twould try.
• • ’Neath the luxuriant willows
  • Would ye not rest?
  • With the great deity rampant,
  • Bide undistressed!
  • Were it for me to appease him,
  • Sore were I harassed and pressed.
• • There go the birds, high soaring;
  • Skyward they speed.
  • But this man’s soul’s ambition,—
  • Where will it lead?
  • Why should I seek to appease him?
  • Danger and trouble ’twould breed.

[* ]Lit., blessings.

[* ]The allusive lines are a little obscure, but probably refer to the speakers themselves thus caught and entertained, as also their horses.

[† ]“Health,” “wealth,” and “blessing,” are renderings of the indefinite fuh luh so often met with together in the Odes.

[* ]This “green fly” is said to be an insect which befouls everything it touches, and is therefore an appropriate emblem of the slanderer.

[† ]Said to have been written by Duke Wu of Wei, who had once himself been addicted to intemperate drinking, but now condemned the habit. The Ode may be divided into two parts, the first consisting of stanzas 1 and 2, which describe the temperate use of wine at feasts, joined with archery contests, and at sacrifices; the second consisting of stanzas 3, 4, and 5, which give the contrast on ordinary occasions.

[* ]The defeated ones had to drink this cup.

[† ]The chief guest. Dr. Legge explains:—“At this point he presented a cup to the representative of the ancestor, and received one from him. He then proceeded to take some more spirits from one of the vases of supply, and the attendant came in and filled another cup, which was also presented to the representative of the dead. This was called the ‘cup of repose or comfort.’ ”

[* ]Lit., “both (i.e., host and guest) would receive a boon from it.”

[† ]An official like the Roman “arbiter bibendi.”

[* ]i.e., impossible things, self-contradictions.

[† ]Hâu was King Wu’s capital. See III. i. 10.

[* ]The introductory allusions are difficult.

[† ]I translate kiâu () as in kiâu tsai () “gifts of princes to secure friendship”; then ü () in the next line retains its natural meaning.

[* ]Wild tribes in the West and South.

[† ]Emblem, evidently, of what a sovereign should be,—the shelter of his people.

[‡ ]Shang Ti. The sacred name of the Supreme God is here used in irony. Cf. Psalm lxxxii. 6.