K'AE FUNG

1 The genial wind from the south

Blows on the heart of that jujube tree,

Till that heart looks tender and beautiful.

What toil and pain did our mother endure!

2 The genial wind from the south

Blows on the branches of that jujube tree,

Our mother is wise and good;

But among us there is none good.

St. 5. 不我活,—'there is now no living for us'.洵,—'to be true'. It is often used adverbially, and here it has a substantive meaning, referring to the engagements in the previous stanza. 信=伸, 'so stretch out', 'to make good';—an established usage of the term. 於嗟,—as in i. XI.

The rhymes are—in st. 1, 鏜, 兵*, 行*, cat. 10: in 2,仲, 宋, 忡, cat. 9: in 3, 處, 馬*, 下*, cat. 5, t. 2: in 4, 闊,說, cat. 15, t. 3; 手, 老*, cat. 3; t. 2: in 5, 闊, 活, cat. 15,t. 3; 洵, 信, cat. 12, t.1.

Ode 7. Metaphorical and allusive. SEVEN SONS OF SOME FAMILY IN WEI BLAME THEMSELVES FOR THE RESTLESS UNHAPPINESS OF THEIR MOTHER. The 'Little Preface' says that the mother could not rest;—we must suppose in her state of widowhood, and wanting to marry a second time; and that her sons, by laying the blame of her restlessness upon themselves, recalled her to a sense of duty. There is nothing in the ode, as Choo says, to intimate that the mother was thus wrought upon; and he might have added that there is nothing in it to suggest that it was her wish to marry again which troubled the sons. However, he accepted the traditional interpretation so far. Mencius, VI. Pt. ii. III., alludes to the ode, but he merely says that the fault of the parent referred to in it was small, and it was proper therefore that the dissatisfaction with her expressed by the sons should be slight.

St. 1, 凱風, 'the triumphant or pleasant wind', is a name given to the south wind from its genial influence on all vegetation. By the kih we are, probably, to understand the zizyphus jujuba, a small thorny tree, bearing a fruit the size of a cherry, which is mealy and eatable, and goes among foreigners by the name of the Chinese date. The name of this is generally written棗; but Heu Shin says that 棘 is applied to a smaller variety of the tree or shrub, whose fruit is more acid.By the 'heart' of the tree are intended the inner and hidden shoots, which it is more difficult for the genial influence to reach.夭夭,—see i. VI. 母氏,—氏 is used much as in III. 4. We cannot translate it, and say 'our mother, of such and such a surname'. 劬勞=病苦, 'to have distress and toil'. In this 4^th line, the sons, acc. to Choo, refer to their mother's toil in their nurture and upbringing.—He makes this stanza to be metaphorical,agreeing with the old interpreters in regard to the allusive character of the others. See in justification of this, the remarks of Lëw Kin on the next stanza.

St.2. Maou explains 薪 of the shoots of the tree, now grown into branches (其成就者). They might be used for firewood.

3 There is the cool spring

Below [the city of] Tseun.

We are seven sons,

And our mother is full of pain and suffering.

4 The beautiful yellow birds

Give forth their pleasant notes.

We are seven sons,

And cannot compose our mother's heart.