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THE TEXTS OF TÂOISM.
APP. VII.
His stately temple fell to ruin ; His altar empty was and still ;
By the nine wells dryandras grew, And the twin tablets were but heaps of stone. St. 7. But when our emperor was called to rule,
All spirit-like and sage was he. Earth's bells reverberated loud, And light fell on the heavenly mirror down. The universe in brightness shone, And portents all were swept away;
(All souls), or bright or dark, revered, And spirits came to take from him their law. St. 8. From desert sands 3 and where the great trees grows,
From phoenix caves, and from the dragon woods, All different creatures came sincere ; Men of all regions gave their hearts to him. Their largest vessels brought their gifts,
And kings their rarest things described ; Black clouds a thousand notes sent forth;
And in the fragrant winds were citherns heard“. St. 9. Through his transforming power, the tripods were
made sure; And families became polite and courteous.
1 The nine wells, or bubbling springs, near the village where Lâo was born, are mentioned by various writers; but I fail to see how the growth of the trees about them indicated the rain of his temple.
I have introduced the 'all souls' in this line, because of the in the second character. Williams defines the first character, yao (H , as the effulgence of the sun,' and of heavenly bodies generally;' the se well known as meaning the animal soul,' and the dark disk of the moon.' The Thesaurus, however, explains the two characters together as a name for the pole star Gl ; see Analects I, i); and perhaps I had better have followed this meaning.
* The desert sands' were, no doubt, what we call the desert of Gobi.' The trees referred to were in the extreme East. The combination phan-ma is not described more particularly.
. This and the three preceding lines are not a little dark.
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