ODE 10. THE SZE WAN.


APPROPRIATE TO ONE OF THE BORDER SACRIFICES, WHEN HAU-KI WAS
WORSHIPPED AS THE CORRELATE OF GOD, AND CELEBRATING HIM.

Hau-ki was the same as Khi, who appears in Part II of the Shu as
Minister of Agriculture to Yao and Shun, and co-operating with

[1. If the whole piece be understood only of a sacrifice to Wu, this
line will have to be translated--'How illustrious was he, who completed
(his great work), and secured its tranquillity.' We must deal similarly
with the next line. This construction is very forced; nor is the text
clear on the view of Ku-Hsi.]

Yue in his labours on the flooded land. The name Hau belongs to him as
lord of Thai; that of Ki, as Minister of Agriculture. However the
combination arose, Hau-ki became historically the name of Khi of the
time of Yao and Shun, the ancestor to whom the kings of Kau traced their
lineage. He was to the people the Father of Husbandry, who first taught
men to plough and sow and reap. Hence, when the kings offered sacrifice
and prayer to God at the commencement of spring for his blessing on the
labours of the year, they associated Hau-ki with him at the service.

O accomplished Hau-ki, Thou didst prove thyself the correlate of Heaven.
Thou didst give grain-food to our multitudes:--The immense gift of thy
goodness. Thou didst confer on us the wheat and the barley, Which God
appointed for the nourishment of all. And without distinction of