Classic of Poetry

In long trains ever increasing grow the gourds. When [our] people first sprang, From the country about the Ts‘eu and the Ts‘eih, The ancient duke T‘an-foo, Made for them kiln-like huts and caves, Ere they had yet any houses.

The ancient duke T‘an-foo Came in the morning, galloping his horses, Along the banks of the western rivers, To the foot of [mount] K‘e; And there, he and the lady Këang Came, and together looked out for a site on which to settle.

The plain of Chow looked beautiful and rich, With its violets and sowthistles [sweet] as dumplings. There he began with consulting [his followers]; There he singed the tortoise-shell, [and divined]. The responses were—there to stay, and then; And they proceeded there to build their houses.

He encouraged the people and settled them; Here on the left, there on the right. He divided the ground into larger tracts and smaller portions; He dug the ditches; he defined the acres; From the west to the east, There was nothing which he did not take in hand.

He called his superintendent of works; He called his minister of instruction; And charged them with the building of the houses. With the line they made everything straight; They bound the frame-boards tight, so that they should rise regularly. Uprose the ancestral temple in its solemn grandeur.

Crowds brought the earth in baskets; They threw it with shouts into the frames; They beat it with responsive blows; They pared the walls repeatedly, and they sounded strong. Five thousand cubits of them arose together, So that the roll of the great drum did not overpower [the noise of the builders].

They set up the gate of the enceinte; And the gate of the enceinte stood high. They set up the court gate; And the court gate stood grand. They reared the great altar [to the Spirits of the land], From which all great movements should proceed.

Thus though he could not prevent the rage [of his foes], He did not let fall his own fame. The oaks and the yih were [gradually] thinned, And roads for travelling were opened. The hordes of the Keun disappeared, Startled and panting.

[The chiefs of] Joo and Juy were brought to an agreement, By king Wăn’s stimulating their natural virtue. Then, I may say, some came to him, previously not knowing him; And some, drawn the last by the first; And some, drawn by his rapid successes; And some, by his defence [of the weak] from insult.