ODE 4.
THE MAJOR ODES OF THE KINGDOM.
421
we not mingle our fears together? (The sacrifices to) my ancestors will be extinguished[1].
'The drought is excessive, And it cannot be stopped. More fierce and fiery, It is leaving me no place. My end is near;—I have none to look up, none to look round, to. The many dukes and their ministers of the past[2] Give me no help. O ye parents and (nearer) ancestors[3], How can ye bear to see me thus?
'The drought is excessive;—Parched are the hills, and the streams are dried. The demon of drought exercises his oppression, As if scattering flames and fire[4] My heart is terrified with the heat;—My sorrowing heart is as if on fire. The
- ↑ Equivalent to the extinction of the dynasty.
- ↑ The king had sacrificed to all the early lords of Kâu. 'The many dukes' may comprehend kings Thâi and Kî. He had also sacrificed to their ministers. Compare what Pan-kăng says in the Shû, p. 109, about his predecessors and their ministers. Some take 'the many dukes, and the ministers,' of all princes of states who had signalised themselves by services to the people and kingdom.
- ↑ The king could hardly hope that his father, the oppressive Lî, would in his spirit-state give him any aid; but we need only find in his words the expression of natural feeling. Probably it was the consideration of the character of Lî which has made some critics understand by 'parents' and 'ancestors' the same individuals, namely, kings Wăn and Wû, 'the ancestors' of Hsüan, and who had truly been 'the parents' of the people.
- ↑ Khung Ying-tâ, from 'the Book of Spirits and Marvels,' gives the following account of 'the demon of drought:'—'In the southern regions there is a man, two or three cubits in height, with the upper part of his body bare, and his eyes in the top of his head. He runs with the speed of the wind, and is named Po. In whatever state he appears, there ensues a great drought.' The Book of Spirits and Marvels, however, as it now exists, cannot be older than our fourth or fifth century.
