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Who can say that you have no sheep? |
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There are three hundred in [each] herd. |
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Who says that you have no cattle? |
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There are ninety, which are black-lipped. |
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Your sheep come, |
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Horned, but all agreeing. |
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Your cattle come, |
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Flapping their ears. |
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Some are descending among the mounds; |
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Some are drinking at the pools; |
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Some are lying down, some are moving about. |
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Your herdsmen come, |
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Bearing their rain-coats and bamboo-hats, |
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Or carrying on their backs their provisions. |
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In thirties are the creatures arranged according to their colours; |
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For your victims there is abundant provision. |
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Your herdsmen come, |
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With their large faggots, and smaller branches, |
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And with their prey of birds and beasts. |
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Your sheep come, |
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Vigorous and strong, |
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None injured, no infection in the herd. |
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At the wave of the [herdsman's] arm, |
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All come, all go up [into the fold]. |
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Your herdsmen shall dream, -- |
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Of multitudes and then of fishes; |
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Of the tortoise-and serpent; and then of the falcon banners. |
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The chief diviner will divine the dreams, |
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How the multitudes dissolving into fishes, |
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Betoken plentiful years; |
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How the tortoise-and-serpent dissolving into falcon banners, |
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Betoken the increasing population of the kingdom. |
Published
by The Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities, © Copyright 2003
by Anne Kinney and the University of Virginia