University of Virginia Library

Very sharp are the excellent shares ,
With which they set to work on the south-lying acres .
They sow their different kinds of grain ,
Each seed containing a germ of life .
There are those who come to see them ,
With their baskets round and square ,
Containing the provision of millet .
With their light splint hats on their heads ,
They ply their hoes on the ground ,
Clearing away the smart-weed on the dry land and wet .
These weeds being decayed ,
The millets grow luxuriantly .
They fall rustling before the reapers .
And [the sheaves] are set up solidly ,
High as a wall ,
United together like the teeth of a comb ;
And the hundred houses are opened [to receive the grain] .
Those hundred houses being full ,
The wives and children have a feeling of repose .
[Now] we kill this black-muzzled tawny bull ,
With his crooked horns ,
To imitate and hand down ,
To land down [the observances of] our ancestors .