THE SHE KING; OR, THE BOOK OF ANCIENT POETRY

358 THE BOOK OF POETEY. [PART IV.
Lead forth your men, with energy
O'er their own fields to sow the grain.
Those, in each square of thirty Ic,
Ten thousand families can maintain.
Now let the ploughs turn up the soil,
The men attending, pair by pair.
The harvest will repay their toil;—
The bounteous produce all shall share.
i
III.
The Chin loo; allusive. CELEBRATING THE REPRESENTATIVES OP
THE TWO FORMER DYNASTIES, WHO HAD COME TO COURT TO ASSIST
AT SACRIFICE :—MAY HAVE BEEN SUNG WHEN THE KING WAS DIS
MISSING THEM IN THE ANCESTRAL TEMPLE.
Hound yonder marsh, there in the west,
A flock of egrets fly.
With graceful movement, like those birds,
My visitors came nigh.
Their fathers reigned where I reign now,
But loyal are they to our Chow.
There in their own States are they loved,
Nor tired of are they here.
Their fame with lapse of time shall grow
Both day and night more clear.
Their fathers reigned where I reign now,
Bnt loyal are they to our Chow.
The Ftmg neen; narrative.
PLENTIFUL YEAR.
IV.
AN ODE OF THANKSGIVING FOR A
The plenteous ear has given us large supply
Of rice and millet, and onr granaries high
Hardly suffice the prodnce to contain,—
Millions of measures of the garnered grain!
From this distilled, shall spirits, strong and sweet,
Our sires and mothers with their fragrance greet,
When to their shrines each season we repair;
And in all other rites their part shall bear.
BK I. § II. VI.] THE BOOK OF POETRY. 359
Blessings of every kind our land shall crown;—
And all the Spirits our devotion own !
V.
The Tew Two; narrative. THE BLIND MUSICIANS OF CHOW ; THE
INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC ; AND THEIR HARMONY. PREPARED PBO-
BABLY FOR THE OCCASION OF THE DUKE OF CHOW'S COMPLETING
HIS INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC, AND ANNOUNCING THE FACT AT A
GRAND PERFORMANCE IN THE TEMPLE OF KING WAN.
See the blind musicians here !
Sightless all, the men appear,
In the temple-court of Chow.
All is ready for them now.
Stand the music frames around,
On whose posts rich plumes abound,
While their face-boards, edged like teeth,
Show the drums that hang beneath.
Sounding-stones and hand-drums there
In the concert part shall bear.
See the ch'uh to signalize
When the music shall arise ;
And the yn, whose harsher note
Hushes instrument and throat.
When the duke has thus prepared,
Soon the various notes are heard.
Organ's swell and flutes' soft voice,
Make the listening ears rejoice.
Sweet the harmony of s.ound,
Holding all in rapture bound !
When such music shall be made,
Then our sires for whom 'tis played,
And the visitors who come,
Welcomed to this sacred home,
Shall desire it to last long,
Thrilled with the melodious song.
VI.
The Ts'een; narrative. SUNG IN IHE FIRST MONTH OF WINTER,
AND IN SPRING, WHEN THE KING PRESENTED A FISH IN THE AN
CESTRAL TEMPLE.
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