Tî said, 'Yes, but do you go (and undertake the duties). Effect a harmony (in all the departments).'
The Tî said, 'Who can superintend, as the nature of the charge requires, the grass and trees, with the birds and beasts on my hills and in my marshes?' All (in the court) replied, 'Is there not Yî[1]?' The Tî said, 'Yes. Ho! Yî, do you be my Forester.' Yî did obeisance with his head to the ground, and wished to decline in favour of Zhū, Hû, Hsiung, or Pî[2]. The Tî said, 'Yes, but do you go (and undertake the duties). You must manage them harmoniously.'
The Tî said, 'Ho! (President of the) Four Mountains, is there any one able to direct my three (religious) ceremonies[3]?' All (in the court) answered, 'Is there not Po-î[4]?' The Tî said, 'Yes. Ho! Po, you must be the Arranger in the Ancestral Temple. Morning and night be reverent. Be upright, be pure.' Po did obeisance with his head to the ground, and wished to decline in favour of Khwei or Lung. The Tî said, 'Yes, but do you go (and undertake the duties). Be reverential!'*
The Tî said, 'Khwei[5], I appoint you to be Director of Music, and to teach our sons, so that the straightforward shall yet be mild; the gentle, dignified; the strong, not tyrannical; and the impetuous,
- ↑ For Yî, see the preliminary note to Book iv.
- ↑ He wishes here to decline his appointment in favour of Kû ('The Cedar'), Hû ('The Tiger'), Hsiung ('The Bear'), or Pî ('The Grisly Bear').
- ↑ The three ceremonies were the observances in the worship of the Spirits of Heaven, the Spirits of Earth, and the Spirits of Men.
- ↑ Po-î was the progenitor of the great family of Kiang, members of which ruled in Khî and other states.
- ↑ Of Khwei we know nothing more than what is here told us. The character denotes a monstrous animal, 'a dragon with one leg.'
