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By the graceful sweep of these banks, |
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With the southern hill, so calm in the distance, |
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[Has the palace arisen], firm as the roots of a clump of bamboos, |
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[With its roof] like the luxuriant head of a pine tree. |
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May the brothers [here], |
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Be loving among themselves, |
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And have no schemings against one another! |
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Having entered into the inheritance of his ancestors, |
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He has built his chambers, five thousand cubits of walls, |
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With their doors to the west and to the south. |
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Here will he reside; here will he sit; |
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Here will he laugh; here will he talk. |
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They bound the frames for the earth, exactly over one another; |
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Tuo-tuo went on the pounding; -- |
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Impervious [the walls] to wind and rain, |
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Offering no cranny to bird or rat. |
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A grand dwelling is it for our noble lord. |
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Like a man on tip-toe, in reverent expectation; |
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Like an arrow, flying rapidly; |
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Like a bird which has changed its feathers; |
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Like a pheasant on flying wings; |
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Is the [hall] which our noble lord will ascend. |
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Level and smooth is the court-yard, |
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And lofty are the pillars around it. |
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Pleasant is the exposure of the chamber to the light, |
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And deep and wide are its recesses; -- |
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Here will our noble lord repose. |
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On the rush-mat below, and that of fine bamboos above it, |
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Here may he repose in slumber! |
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May he sleep and awake, |
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[Saying] ' Divine for me my dreams. |
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What dreams are lucky? |
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They have been of bears and grisly bears; |
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They have been of cobras and [other] serpents. ' |
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The chief diviner will divine them. |
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The bears and grisly bears, |
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Are the auspicious intimations of sons. |
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The cobras and [other] serpents, |
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Are the auspicious intimations of daughters. |
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Sons shall be born to him: -- |
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They will be put to sleep on couches; |
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They will be clothed in robes; |
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They will have sceptres to play with; |
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Their cry will be loud. |
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They will be [hereafter] resplendent with red knee-covers, |
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The [future] king, the princes of the land. |
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Daughters shall be born to him: -- |
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They will be put to sleep on the ground; |
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They will be clothed with wrappers; |
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They will have tiles to play with. |
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It will be theirs neither to do wrong nor to do good. |
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Only about the spirits and the food will they have to think, |
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And to cause no sorrow to their parents. |
Published
by The Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities, © Copyright 2003
by Anne Kinney and the University of Virginia