Ode 3, Stanzas 1 and 3. The Hsiâo Pan.
ODE 3, STANZAS 1 AND 3. THE HSIÂO PAN.
THE ELDEST SON AND HEIR-APPARENT OF KING YÛ BEWAILS HIS DEGRADATION, APPEALING TO HEAVEN AS TO HIS INNOCENCE, AND COMPLAINING OF ITS CASTING HIS LOT IN SUCH A TIME.
It is allowed that this piece is clearly the composition of a banished son, and there is no necessity to call in question the tradition preserved in the Preface which prefers it to Î-khiû, the eldest son of king Yû. His mother was a princess of the House of Shan; but when Yû became enamoured of Sze of Pâo, the queen was degraded, and the son banished to Shan.
With flapping wings the crows Come back, flying all in a flock 1. Other people are happy, And I only am full of misery. What is my offence against Heaven? What is my crime? My heart is sad; What is to be done?
Even the mulberry trees and the rottleras Must be regarded with reverence 2; But no one is to be looked up to like a father, No one is to be depended on as a mother. Have I not a connexion with the hairs (of my father)? Did I not dwell in the womb (of my mother)? O Heaven, who gave me birth! How was it at so inauspicious a time?