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Hence the composition of the piece has been referred to the time of Ti-yi, the last but one of the kings of Shang. We do not know anything of this time of decadence in the fortunes of Shang between Hsieh and Thang. King, or Khu, or King-Khu, as the two names are combined here, was a large and powerful half-savage state, having its capital in the present Wu-pei.
The supplies and reinforcements for the vast army failed to arrive in time; units did not reach the appointed places at the appointed dates. The southern troops under the supreme command of Hsieh Hsüan, far inferior in numbers and militarily of no great efficiency, made surprise attacks on isolated units before these were in regular formation.
Afterwards, look over the one hundred and twenty stanzas of Lao T'u, in the heptameter rule; and next read a hundred or two hundred of the heptameter four-lined stanzas by Li Ch'ing-lieu. When you have, as a first step, digested these three authors, and made them your foundation, you can take T'ao Yuan-ming, Ying, Liu, Hsieh, Yuean, Yue, Pao and other writers and go through them once.
And between the mellow peals of music there often seems to come a plaintive whisper that may be heard only by those standing near, "Hsieh! hsieh" the Chinese word for slipper. "Alas!" say all who hear it, "Ko-ai is crying for her slipper. Poor little Ko-ai!" And now, my dear children, this tale is almost finished, but there is still one thing you must by no means fail to remember.
The king gave charge to the earl of Shao, To arrange all about the residence of the chief of Shin, Where he should do what was necessary for the regions of the south, And where his posterity might maintain his merit. Hsieh was in the present Fang Kau of the department of Nan-yang.
I think this is the oldest of the odes of Shang. This line refers to the birth of Hsieh, as described in the previous ode, and his being made lord of Shang.
I put them here in the first place, because they are the oldest pieces in the collection. There are only five of them. The sovereigns of the dynasty of Shang who occupied the throne from B.C. 1766 to 1123. They traced their lineage to Hsieh, appears in the Shu as Minister of Instruction to Shun.
The main objective was the regaining of the regions of eastern Honan, northern Anhui and Kiangsu, in which were the family seats of Huan's and the emperor's families, as well as that of the Hsieh family which also formed an important group in the court clique.
Hengs and Wus the still park permeate; The los and pis their sweet perfume enhance; And supple charms the third spring flowers ornate; Softly is wafted one streak of fragrance! A light mist doth becloud the tortuous way! With moist the clothes bedews, that verdure cold! The pond who ever sinuous could hold? Dreams long and subtle, dream the household Hsieh. On "the happy red and joyful green:"
The successes of the southern state especially strengthened the Hsieh family, whose generals had come to the fore. He occupied himself occasionally with Buddhism, and otherwise only with women and wine. He was followed by his five-year-old son. At this time there were some changes in the court clique. In the Huan family Huan Hsüan, a son of Huan Wen, came especially into prominence.
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