Stephen Owen :: It's a story of how the Zhou people were born from the millet god, and the mother, whose name is Jiang Yuan, probably Jiang, the first parent, does the ritual sacrifices and strangely enough steps in the toe print of the god. And by stepping in the toe print of the god, she becomes pregnant, and the poem goes through all the phases and finally, her son is born, whose name is Lord Millet or Houji.
And Houji invents farming and becomes the ancestor of the Zhou people.
Excerpt from "Foundation of the Zhou," from the Book of Songs
... Then in reverence, then in awe She gave birth, she nurtured
And this was Houji. Indeed, she had fulfilled her months, And her first-born came like a lamb With no bursting or rending, With no hurt or harm. To make manifest
His magic power God on high gave her ease. So blessed were her sacrifice and prayer
That easily she bore her child. ... He planted large beans; His beans grew fat and tall. His paddy-lines were close set, His hemp and wheat grew thick, His young gourds teemed.
Truly Houji's husbandry
Followed the way that had been shown.
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** The Book of Songs is also known as the Book of Poetry, the Classic of Poetry, and sometimes the Book of Odes. These are all possible translations of the Chinese title, Shi jing [Shih-ching in Wade-Giles romanization]. |