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七月

七月流火。
九月授衣。
一之日觱發。
二之日栗烈。
無衣無褐。
何以卒歲。
三之日于耜。
四之日舉趾。
同我婦子。
饁彼南畝。
田畯至喜。
七月流火。
九月授衣。
春日載陽。
有鳴倉庚。
女執懿筐。
遵彼微行。
爰求柔桑。
春日遲遲。
采蘩祁祁。
女心傷悲。
殆及公子同歸。
七月流火。
八月萑葦。
蠶月條桑。
取彼斧斨。
以伐遠揚。
猗彼女桑。
七月鳴鵙。
八月載績。
載玄載黃。
我朱孔陽。
為公子裳。
四月秀葽。
五月鳴蜩。
八月其穫。
十月隕蘀。
一之日于貉。
取彼狐狸。
為公子裘。
二之日其同。
載纘武功。
言私其豵。
獻豜于公。
五月斯螽動股。
六月莎雞振羽。
七月在野。
八月在宇。
九月在戶。
十月蟋蟀。
入我床下。
穹窒熏鼠。
塞向墐戶。
嗟我婦子。
曰為改歲。
入此室處。
六月食鬱及薁。
七月亨葵及菽。
八月剝棗。
十月穫稻。
為此春酒。
以介眉壽。
七月食瓜。
八月斷壺。
九月叔苴。
采荼薪樗。
食我農夫。
九月築場圃。
十月納禾稼。
黍稷重穋。
禾麻菽麥。
嗟我農夫。
我稼既同。
上入執宮功。
晝爾于茅。
宵爾索綯。
亟其乘屋。
其始播百穀。
二之日鑿冰沖沖。
三之日納于凌陰。
四之日其蚤。
獻羔祭韭。
九月肅霜。
十月滌場。
朋酒斯響。
曰殺羔羊。
躋彼公堂。
稱彼兕觥。
萬壽無疆。

QI YUE

In the seventh month, the Fire Star passes the meridian;
In the 9th month, clothes are given out.
In the days of [our] first month, the wind blows cold;
In the days of [our] second, the air is cold; --
Without the clothes and garments of hair,
How could we get to the end of the year?
In the days of [our] third month, they take their ploughs in hand;
In the days of [our] fourth, they take their way to the fields.
Along with my wife and children,
I carry food to them in those south-lying acres.
The surveyor of the fields comes, and is glad.
In the seventh month, the Fire Star passes the meridian;
In the ninth month, clothes are given out.
With the spring days the warmth begins,
And the oriole utters its song.
The young women take their deep baskets,
And go along the small paths,
Looking for the tender [leaves of the] mulberry trees.
As the spring days lengthen out,
They gather in crowds the white southernwood.
That young lady's heart is wounded with sadness,
For she will [soon] be going with one of our princess as his wife.
In the seventh month, the Fire Star passes the meridian;
In the eighth month are the sedges and reeds.
In the silkworm month they strip the mulberry branches of their leaves,
And take their axes and hatchets,
To lop off those that are distant and high;
Only stripping the young trees of their leaves.
In the seventh month, the shrike is heard;
In the eighth month, they begin their spinning; --
They make dark fabrics and yellow.
Our red manufacture is very brilliant,
It is for the lower robes of our young princes.
In the fourth month, the Small grass is in seed.
In the fifth, the cicada gives out its note.
In the eighth, they reap.
In the tenth, the leaves fall.
In the days of [our] first month, they go after badgers,
And take foxes and wild cats,
To make furs for our young princes.
In the days of [our] second month, they have a general hunt,
And proceed to keep up the exercises of war.
The boars of one year are for themselves;
Those of three years are for our prince.
In the fifth month, the locust moves its legs;
In the sixth month, the spinner sounds its wings.
In the seventh month, in the fields;
In the eighth month, under the eaves;
In the ninth month, about the doors;
In the tenth month, the cricket
Enters under our beds.
Chinks are filled up, and rats are smoked out;
The windows that face [the north] are stopped up;
And the doors are plastered.
' Ah! our wives and children,
' Changing the year requires this:
Enter here and dwell. '
In the sixth month they eat the sparrow-plums and grapes;
In the seventh, they cook the Kui and pulse,
In the eighth, they knock down the dates;
In the tenth, they reap the rice;
And make the spirits for the spring,
For the benefit of the bushy eyebrows.
In the seventh month, they eat the melons;
In the eighth, they cut down the bottle-gourds;
In the ninth, they gather the hemp-seed;
They gather the sowthistle and make firewood of the Fetid tree;
To feed our husbandmen.
In the ninth month, they prepare the vegetable gardens for their stacks,
And in the tenth they convey the sheaves to them;
The millets, both the early sown and the late,
With other grain, the hemp, the pulse, and the wheat.
' O my husbandmen,
Our harvest is all collected.
Let us go to the town, and be at work on our houses.
In the day time collect the grass,
And at night twist it into ropes;
Then get up quickly on our roofs; --
We shall have to recommence our sowing. '
In the days of [our] second month, they hew out the ice with harmonious blows;
And in those of [our] third month, they convey it to the ice-houses,
[Which they open] in those of the fourth, early in the morning,
Having offered in sacrifice a lamb with scallions.
In the ninth month, it is cold, with frost;
In the tenth month, they sweep clean their stack-sites.
The two bottles of spirits are enjoyed,
And they say, ' Let us kill our lambs and sheep,
And go to the hall of our prince,
There raise the cup of rhinoceros horn,
And wish him long life, -- that he may live for ever. '
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IATHPublished by The Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities, © Copyright 2003 by Anne Kinney and the University of Virginia