Monday, November 09, 2020
Quails and Magpies
The Book of Songs: The Ancient Chinese Classic of Poetry. Translated from the Chinese by Arthur Waley (1937; rpt. New York: Grove Press, 1960), p. 299 (Waley's number 269 = 49 Mao):
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How the quails bicker,The same, in The Book of Odes. Chinese Text, Transcription and Translation by Bernhard Karlgren (Stockholm: The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, 1950), p. 32:
How the magpies snatch!
Evil are the men
Whom I must call 'brother.'
How the magpies snatch,
How the quails bicker!
Evil are the men
Whom I must call 'lord.'
1. The quails are ardent, the magpies are fierce; a man who has no goodness I have to regard as my brother. 2. The magpies are fierce, the quails are ardent; a man who has no goodness I have to regard as my lord.
