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THE SHỦ KING.
PART I.
reside in the northern region, in what was called the Sombre Capital, and (there) to adjust and examine the changes of the winter. The day,' (said he), is at its shortest, and the star is in Mâo ;-you may thus exactly determine mid-winter. The people keep in their houses, and the coats of birds and beasts are downy and thick.'
The Ti said, 'Ah! you, Hsis and Hos, a round year consists of three hundred, sixty, and six days. Do you, by means of the intercalary month, fix the four seasons, and complete (the period of) the year. (Thereafter), the various officers being regulated in accordance with this, all the works (of the year) will be fully performed.'
3. The Ti said, 'Who will search out (for me) a man according to the times, whom I can raise and employ?' Fang-khi said, “(Your) heir-son Kui is highly intelligent.' The Ti said, "Alas! he is insincere and quarrelsome :-can he do ?'
The Ti said, “Who will search out (for me) a man equal to the exigency of my affairs ?' Hwan-tâu? said, 'Oh! the merits of the Minister of Works have just been displayed on a wide scale.' The Ti said, 'Alas! when all is quiet, he talks ; but when employed, his actions turn out differently. He is respectful (only) in appearance. See! the floods assail the heavens!'
The Ti said, 'Ho! (President of) the Four
1 In Part II, iv, 2, Yü speaks of this son of Yão as 'the haughty Ků of Tan,' Tan probably being the name of a state, over which, according to tradition, he had been appointed.
* Hwan-tâu and the Minister of Works, whom he recommends, appear in the next Book as great criminals.
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