Than-fû Made for them kiln-like huts and caves, Ere they had yet any houses[1].
The ancient duke Than-fû Came in the morning, galloping his horses, Along the banks of the western rivers, To the foot of mount Khî[2]; And there he and the lady Kiang[3] Came and together looked out for a site.
The plain of Kâu looked beautiful and rich, With its violets, and sowthistles (sweet) as dumplings. There he began by consulting (with his followers); There he singed the tortoise-shell, (and divined). The responses were there to stay and then; And they proceeded there to build[4].
He encouraged the people, and settled them; Here on the left, there on the right. He divided the ground, and subdivided it; He dug the ditches; he defined the acres. From the east to the west, There was nothing which he did not take in hand[5].
- ↑ According to this ode then, up to the time of Than-fû, the Kâu people had only had the dwellings here described; but this is not easily reconciled with other accounts, or even with other stanzas of this piece.
- ↑ See a graphic account of the circumstances in which this migration took place, in the fifteenth chapter of the second Part of the first Book of Mencius, very much to the honour of the ancient duke.
- ↑ This lady is known as Thâi-kiang, the worthy predecessor of Thâi-zăn.
- ↑ This stanza has reference to the choice—by council and divination—of a site for what should be the chief town of the new settlement.
- ↑ This stanza describes the general arrangements for the occupancy and cultivation of the plain of Kâu, and the distribution of the people over it.
remains in the small department of Pin Kâu, in Shen-hsî. The Khü flows into the Lo, and the Khî into the Wei.
