9.
The Emperor roused sufficiently to enact the ritual of the 'Patron of the Soil.' He considered himself bounden to this since it was wrapped up with the welfare of his people. Homage to the Gods of the Soil, might keep away the locusts, abolish drought, secure abundance. Though he was the most powerful Emperor beneath the sun, he knew that life on earth only exists because of the bounty of the soil. A man may bellow like a lion, strut like a peacock, conquer his weak neighbors, suppress his own people, be a legend like unto a dragon snorting fire, yet he cannot create one simple garden flower, nor a single grain of rice. Without being able to manufacture even a flea, he boldly molds new gods, which, strangely enough, are in his own image. Yet, when all his glory is stripped from him, without the gifts of the soil he is nothing. Through his dependence on the soil, he has a kinship with the lowliest beggar crouched at the approach to a temple and exhibiting his festering sores for all to view.
The swallows returned to Changan, on the very morning of the day of worship.
As Ming Huang emerged from the palace, he murmured: "When the mind is not present, we look and do not see; we hear and do not understand. We eat and do not know the taste of food."
Around the field that was set apart for the service, people gathered in droves. They were chanting a hymn:
