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In long trains ever increasing grow the gourds. |
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When [our] people first sprang, |
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From the country about the Ju and the Qi, |
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The ancient duke Tan-fu, |
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Made for them kiln-like huts and caves, |
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Ere they had yet any houses. |
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The ancient duke Tan-fu, |
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Came in the morning, galloping his horses, |
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Along the banks of the western rivers, |
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To the foot of [mount] Qi; |
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And there, he and the lady Jiang, |
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Came, and together looked out for a site on which to settle. |
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The plain of Zhou looked beautiful and rich, |
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With its violets and sowthistles [sweet] as dumplings. |
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There he began with consulting [his followers]; |
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There he singed the tortoise-shell, [and divined]. |
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The responses were - there to stay, and then; |
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And they proceeded there to build their houses. |
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He encouraged the people and settled them; |
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Here on the left, there on the right. |
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He divided the ground into larger tracts and smaller portions; |
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He dug the ditches; he defined the acres; |
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From the west to the east, |
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There was nothing which he did not take in hand. |
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He called his superintendent of works; |
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He called his minister of instruction; |
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And charged them with the building of the houses. |
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With the line they made everything straight; |
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They bound the frame-boards tight, so that they should rise regularly. |
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Uprose the ancestral temple in its solemn grandeur. |
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Crowds brought the earth in baskets |
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They threw it with shouts into the frames; |
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They beat it with responsive blows; |
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They pared the walls repeatedly, and they sounded strong. |
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Five thousand cubits of them arose together, |
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So that the roll of the great drum did not overpower [the noise of the builders]. |
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They set up the gate of the enceinte; |
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And the gate of the enceinte stood high. |
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They set up the court gate; |
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And the court gate stood grand. |
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They reared the great altar [to the Spirits of the land], |
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From which all great movements should proceed. |
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Thus though he could nto prevent the rage [of his foes], |
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He did not let fall his own fame. |
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The oaks and the Yu were [gradually] thinned, |
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And roads for travelling were opened. |
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The hordes of the Hun disappeared, |
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Startled and panting. |
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[The chiefs of] Yu and Rui were brought to an agreement, |
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By king Wen's stimulating their natural virtue. |
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Then, I may say, some came to him, previously not knowing him; |
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And some, drawn the last by the first; |
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And some, drawn by his rapid success; |
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Ans some, by his defence [of the weak] from insult. |