they have to think, And to cause no sorrow to their parents.
Ode 6, Stanza 4. The Wû Yang.
The Wû Yang is supposed to celebrate the largeness and excellent condition of king Hsüan's flocks and herds. The concluding stanza has reference to the divination of the dreams of his herdsmen.
Your herdsmen shall dream, Of multitudes and then of fishes, Of the tortoise-and-serpent, and then of the falcon, banners[1]. The chief diviner will divine the dreams;—How the multitudes, dissolving into fishes, Betoken plentiful years; How the tortoise-and-serpent, dissolving into the falcon, banners, Betoken the increasing population of the kingdom.
Ode 7. The Kieh Nan Shan.
A lamentation over the unsettled state of the kingdom; denouncing the injustice and neglect of the chief minister, blaming also the conduct of the king, with appeals to Heaven, and seemingly charging it with cruelty and injustice.
This piece is referred to the time of king Yû (B.C. 781 to 771), the unworthy son of king Hsüan. The 'Grand-Master' Yin must have been one of the 'three Kung,' the highest ministers at the court of Kâu, and was, probably, the chief of the three, and administrator of the government under Yû.
Lofty is that southern hill[2], With its masses of rocks! Awe-inspiring are you, O (Grand-)Master
- ↑ The tortoise-and-serpent banner marked the presence in a host of its leader on a military expedition. On its field were the figures of tortoises, with snakes coiled round them. The falcon banners belonged to the commanders of the divisions of the host. They bore the figures of falcons on them.
- ↑ 'The southern hill' was also called the Kung-nan, and rose right to the south of the western capital of Kâu
