258
THE Lî Kî.
BK. IV.
creatures are the scaly. Its musical note is Kio, and its pitch-tube is the Kiâ Kung[1].
3. Its number is eight; its taste is sour; its smell is rank. Its sacrifice is that at the door, and of the parts of the victim the spleen has the foremost place.
4. The rain begins to fall[2]. The peach tree begins to blossom. The oriole sings. Hawks are transformed into doves[3].
5. The son of Heaven occupies the Khing Yang Grand Fane[4]; rides in the carriage with the phoenix bells, drawn by the azure dragon-(horses), and bearing the green flag. He is dressed in the green robes, and wears the azure gems. He eats wheat
- ↑ Kiâ Kung, "the double tube," is the second tube of the six lower accords.
- ↑ Literally, "There commence the rains." "The rains" is now the name of the second of the twenty-four terms (February 15 to March 4).
- ↑ This is the converse of the phenomenon in page 277, paragraph 3. Both are absurd, but the natural rendering in the translation is the view of Kǎng, Ying-tâ, Kâo Yû (the glossarist of Hwâi-nan 𝖅ze), and the Khien-lung editors. Seeking for the actual phenomenon which gave rise to the superstitious fancy, Professor Douglas renders the corresponding sentence of the Hsiâ Kǎng by "hawks become crested hawks," and thinks that the notice is based on the appearance of the hawks when "the rearing instinct becomes excessive, and birds of prey become excited." It may be so, but this meaning cannot be brought out of the text, and should not be presented as that of the writer of the Book.
- ↑ See the note on p. 252. The three apartments (two of them subdivided) on the east of the Hall of Distinction, all received the general designation of Khing Yang, "the Green and Bright," as characteristic of the season of Spring. It was now the second month of that season, and the king takes his place in the principal or central apartment, "the Grand Fane."
