PURPLE FORBIDDEN CITY 59 



4. — What crime have the men of to-day committed ? 



5. — Heaven sends down from above, death, disorder, confusion. 



6. — The grains and cereals, the vegetables and green foods are not 



ripe — again and again, many times does this happen ! 

 7. — There is no spirit to whom I have not lifted up sacrifice ; 

 8. — No victim I have treasured and so kept back ; 

 9. — My stone sceptres and round badges of rank have come to 



an end ; 

 10. — How ! Why ! am I not heard ? 



Stanza II. 



1. — The drought is already too extreme. 



2. — The heated air strikes man's body with over-powering con- 

 centrated fierceness. 

 3. — I have not ceased to offer the pure sacrifices. 

 4. — From the Border Altars back to the Ancestral Altars I have 



advanced. 

 5. — To Heaven to Earth I have lifted the sacrifices on stands, and 



have after the ceremony, buried them in the Earth. 

 6. — There is no spirit I have not honoured. 

 7. — Even Hou Chi, Sovereign of Grain would not have been 



competent. 

 8. — Shang Ti does not send his spirit down upon us to listen to 



our prayers. 

 9. — This destruction and waste, this loathing for the Earth below 



and all the people on it. 

 10. — I desire to bear this myself, on my own body — the result of 



my fault ! 



Stanza III. 



1. — The drought is already too extreme. 

 2. — For its serious consequences I cannot be excused. 

 3. — Terrified — terrified — ; I feel in peril — I feel in peril ! 

 4. — As when one hears the clap of thunder, and the roll of thunder. 

 5. — That which will remain of the black-haired people of Chou, 

 6. — There will not be so much as half a man. 

 7. — Vast as Heaven the Above Ruler. 

 8. — Even I will not be spared. 

 9. — How should I not fear greatly ! ! 

 10. — The sacrifices to our early Ancestors — will be extinguished. 



Stanza IV. 



1. — The drought is already too extreme. 



2. — Its serious consequences cannot be avoided ; 



3. — Scorching, scorching ; blazing hot — blazing hot. 



4. — No dwelling place is left to me. 



5. — The great Decree cf Heaven, by which I live and reign, is 



nearly at an end. 

 6. — There is none to look up to — there is none to regard. 

 7. — The many great officials, the virtuous men of the past, 

 8. — In its serious consequences give me no help ; 

 9. — Father, Mother, my Early Ancestors 

 10. — How can your hearts be at peace — how are you willing to 



endure my sufferings? 



