The Online Library of Liberty

Quote of the Week: Confucius and the Yellow Birds

In the ancient Chinese collection of poems known as the Shih King, probably edited by Confucius, there is a touching verse which laments the ravenous yellow birds in a foreign land where they are not welcomed: Yellow birds, yellow birds! Do not crowd the tree-tops; Come not pecking our crops.— From the folk of this land We unwelcoming win; Up, let us return To our country and kin. [Previous Quotes of the Week]

The full paragraph from which this quotation was taken can be be viewed below (front page quote in bold):

Yellow birds, yellow birds!
Do not crowd the tree-tops;
Come not pecking our crops.—
From the folk of this land
We unwelcoming win;
Up, let us return
To our country and kin.

Yellow birds, yellow birds!
—Not the mulberry-trees.
Come not pecking our maize.—
With the folk of this land
Understanding is vain;
Up, let us return
To our brethren again.

Yellow birds, yellow birds!
—Nor the thicket of thorn.
Come not pecking our corn.
With the folk of this land
We can never remain;
Up, let us return
To our fathers again.