Heron will come in later days and enjoy a happy life together. 



Under the shade of the willow in a deep and quiet place, sweet cin- 

 namon flowers emit fragrance. 



V. CHILDREN 



Because a cinnamon tree met rain in the flower season, two peaches 

 were left unripened, half green and half yellow. 



Nourished and cultivated, thanks be offered for great potential and 

 enduring power. 



Now happy smiles come full of joy. Plum flowers later become 

 more and more fragrant. 



VI. RETIREMENT 



In old age, like the Water Rail, his later life is all destined and 

 cannot be changed. 



Whenever the water is blue and the mountains are green, he seeks 

 his old friends. 



With a lonely monkey and a crane, isolated and aloof, he enjoys life 

 listening to the songs of the fisherman. 



Note: These six stanzas come under the heading "A GOOD 

 HORSE DRAWS A WAGON LOADED WITH SALT." 



Note: This poem is full of figures of speech. The names of plants, 

 fruits and animals are used not literally, but figuratively with symbolic 

 meanings. Although in some places, the thought appears to be dis- 

 connected, if one studies it from a literary standpoint and searches out 

 the hidden meanings, it is both connected and complete. For instance, 

 under the head V. Children, the first line speaks of the Cinnamon tree, 

 and in the second line peaches are mentioned, while in the fourth line, 

 plum flowers are spoken of. The cinnamon branch is the Mother. 

 Cinnamon like the laurel in the Occident refers to a woman of high 

 virtue, honor and chastity. The peach in Chinese mythology is re- 

 garded as a fruit which gives one everlasting life. The reference here 

 is to the two children, which though left motherless while young will 

 nevertheless perpetuate the family. The plum is the flower with un- 

 usual fragrance. It usually blooms in early spring before the snow 

 and frost are gone. The meaning here is that the half orphans, be- 



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