University of Virginia Library

In the seventh month , the Fire Star passes the meridian ;
In the 9th month , clothes are given out .
In the days of [our] first month , the wind blows cold ;
In the days of [our] second , the air is cold ;—
Without the clothes and garments of hair ,
How could we get to the end of the year ?
In the days of [our] third month , they take their ploughs in hand ;
In the days of [our] fourth , they take their way to the fields .
Along with my wife and children ,
I carry food to them in those south-lying acres .
The surveyor of the fields comes , and is glad .

In the seventh month , the Fire Star passes the meridian ;
In the ninth month , clothes are given out .
With the spring days the warmth begins ,
And the oriole utters its song .
The young women take their deep baskets ,
And go along the small paths ,
Looking for the tender [leaves of the] mulberry trees .
As the spring days lengthen out ,
They gather in crowds the white southernwood .
That young lady's heart is wounded with sadness ,
For she will [soon] be going with one of our princess as his wife .

In the seventh month , the Fire Star passes the meridian ;
In the eighth month are the sedges and reeds .
In the silkworm month they strip the mulberry branches of their leaves ,
And take their axes and hatchets ,
To lop off those that are distant and high ;
Only stripping the young trees of their leaves .
In the seventh month , the shrike is heard ;
In the eighth month , they begin their spinning ;—
They make dark fabrics and yellow .
Our red manufacture is very brilliant ,
It is for the lower robes of our young princes .

In the fourth month , the Small grass is in seed .
In the fifth , the cicada gives out its note .
In the eighth , they reap .
In the tenth , the leaves fall .
In the days of [our] first month , they go after badgers ,
And take foxes and wild cats ,
To make furs for our young princes .
In the days of [our] second month , they have a general hunt ,
And proceed to keep up the exercises of war .
The boars of one year are for themselves ;
Those of three years are for our prince .

In the fifth month , the locust moves its legs ;
In the sixth month , the spinner sounds its wings .
In the seventh month , in the fields ;
In the eighth month , under the eaves ;
In the ninth month , about the doors ;
In the tenth month , the cricket
Enters under our beds .
Chinks are filled up , and rats are smoked out ;
The windows that face [the north] are stopped up ;
And the doors are plastered .
' Ah ! our wives and children ,
' Changing the year requires this :
Enter here and dwell . '

In the sixth month they eat the sparrow-plums and grapes ;
In the seventh , they cook the Kui and pulse ,
In the eighth , they knock down the dates ;
In the tenth , they reap the rice ;
And make the spirits for the spring ,
For the benefit of the bushy eyebrows .
In the seventh month , they eat the melons ;
In the eighth , they cut down the bottle-gourds ;
In the ninth , they gather the hemp-seed ;
They gather the sowthistle and make firewood of the Fetid tree ;
To feed our husbandmen .

In the ninth month , they prepare the vegetable gardens for their stacks ,
And in the tenth they convey the sheaves to them ;
The millets , both the early sown and the late ,
With other grain , the hemp , the pulse , and the wheat .
' O my husbandmen ,
Our harvest is all collected .
Let us go to the town , and be at work on our houses .
In the day time collect the grass ,
And at night twist it into ropes ;
Then get up quickly on our roofs ;—
We shall have to recommence our sowing . '

In the days of [our] second month , they hew out the ice with harmonious blows ;
And in those of [our] third month , they convey it to the ice-houses ,
[Which they open] in those of the fourth , early in the morning ,
Having offered in sacrifice a lamb with scallions .
In the ninth month , it is cold , with frost ;
In the tenth month , they sweep clean their stack-sites .
The two bottles of spirits are enjoyed ,
And they say , ' Let us kill our lambs and sheep ,
And go to the hall of our prince ,
There raise the cup of rhinoceros horn ,
And wish him long life , — that he may live for ever . '