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438
THE SHIH KING.
BOOK VI.
to exchange it for silk. (But) you came not so to purchase silk ;—You came to make proposals to me. I convoyed you through the Khi, As far as Tun-khid ?, 'It is not I,' (I said), 'who would protract the time; But you have had no good gobetween. I pray you be not angry, And let autumn be the time.
I ascended that ruinous wall, To look towards Fa-kwans; And when I saw (you) not (coming from) it, My tears flowed in streams. When I did see (you coming from) Fa-kwan, I laughed and I spoke. You had consulted, (you said), the tortoiseshell and the divining stalks, And there was nothing unfavourable in their response 4. •Then come,' (I said), ' with your carriage, And I will remove with my goods.'
Book VI. THE ODES OF THE Royal Domain.
King Wăn, it has been seen, had for his capital the city of Făng,
from which his son, king wa, moved the seat of government to Hảo. In the time of king Khăng, a city was built by the duke
1 The Khi was a famous river of Wei.
3 Tun-khid was a well-known place—the mound or height of Tun'-south of the Wei.
• FQ-kwan must have been the place where the man lived, according to Ka. Rather, it must have been a pass (F0-kwan may mean the gate or pass of Fa'), through which he would come, and was visible from near the residence of the woman.
• Ying-tâ observes that the man had never divined about the matter, and said that he had done so only to complete the process of seduction. The critics dwell on the inconsistency of divination being resorted to in such a case :-Divination is proper only if used in reference to what is right and moral.'
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