Shi Ji Zhuan :: :: University of Virginia Library

In long trains ever increasing grow the gourds .
When [our] people first sprang ,
From the country about the Ju and the Qi ,
The ancient duke Tan-fu ,
Made for them kiln-like huts and caves ,
Ere they had yet any houses .

The ancient duke Tan-fu ,
Came in the morning , galloping his horses ,
Along the banks of the western rivers ,
To the foot of [mount] Qi ;
And there , he and the lady Jiang ,
Came , and together looked out for a site on which to settle .

The plain of Zhou 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 nto prevent the rage [of his foes] ,
He did not let fall his own fame .
The oaks and the Yu were [gradually] thinned ,
And roads for travelling were opened .
The hordes of the Hun disappeared ,
Startled and panting .

[The chiefs of] Yu and Rui were brought to an agreement ,
By king Wen'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 success ;
Ans some , by his defence [of the weak] from insult .