The oldest collection of Chinese poetry, more than three hundred songs, odes and hymns. Tr. Legge (en) and Granet (fr, incomplete).
On the trees go the blows ding-ding ;
And the birds cry out ying-ying.
One issues from the dark valley,
And removes to the lofty tree,
While ying goes its cry,
Seeking with its voice its companion.
Look at the bird,
Bird as it is, seeking with its voice its companion ;
And shall a man,
Not seek to have his friends ?
Spiritual beings will then hearken to him ;
He shall have harmony and peace.
Xu-xu they go, as they fell the trees.
I have strained off my spirits, till they are fine,
And the fatted lambs are provided,
To which to invite my paternal uncles.
It is better that something should keep them from coming,
Than that I should not have regarded them.
Oh ! brightly I have sprinkled and swept my courtyard,
And arranged my viands, with eight dishes of grain, along with my fatted meat,
To which to invite my maternal uncles.
It is better that something should keep them from coming,
Than that there should be blame attaching to me.
They fell down the trees along the hill-side.
I have strained off my spirits in abundance ;
The dishes stand in rows,
And none of my brethren are absent.
The loss of kindly feeling among people,
May arise from faults in the matter of dry provisions.
If I have spirits I strain them, do I ;
If I have no spirits, I buy them, do I ;
I make the drums beat, do I ;
I lead on the dance, do I.
Whenever we have leisure,
Let us drink the sparkling spirits.
Legge 165
The Book of Odes – Shi Jing II. 1. (165) – Chinese off/on – Français/English
Alias Shijing, Shi Jing, Book of Odes, Book of Songs, Classic of Odes, Classic of
Poetry, Livre des Odes, Canon des Poèmes.
The Book of Odes, The Analects, Great Learning, Doctrine of the Mean, Three-characters book, The Book of Changes, The Way and its Power, 300 Tang Poems, The Art of War, Thirty-Six Strategies
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