3. Its number is seven. Its taste is acrid. Its
smell is that of things burning. Its sacrifice is that
at the furnace; and of the parts of the victim the lungs
have the foremost place.
4. Gentle winds begin to blow. The cricket takes its place in the walls. (Young) hawks learn to practise (the ways of their parents)[1]. Decaying grass becomes fire-flies.
5. The son of Heaven occupies the apartment on the right of the Ming Thang (Fane); rides in the vermilion carriage, drawn by the red horses with black tails, and bearing the red flag. He is dressed in the red robes, and wears the carnation gems. He eats beans and fowls. The vessels which he uses are tall, (to resemble) the large growth (of things).
6. Orders are given to the master of the Fishermen to attack the alligator, to take the gavial, to present the tortoise, and to take the great turtle[2].
7. Orders are given to the superintendent of the Meres to collect and send in the rushes available for use.
8. In this month orders are given to the four
- ↑ Compare what is said about hawks in paragraph 4, page 258. "Here," says Wang Thao, "we have the turtle-doves transformed back to hawks, showing that the former notice was metaphorical." What is said about the fire-flies is, of course, a mistaken fancy.
- ↑ The first of these animals—the kiâo—is, probably, the alligator or crocodile; it was taken only after a struggle or fight. The second—the tho—had a skin used in making drums; and its flesh, as well as that of the fourth—the yûan—was used in making soup.
