BOOK IV. THE YÜEH LING
OR
PROCEEDINGS OF GOVERNMENT IN THE DIFFERENT MONTHS.
SECTION IV. PART III
Translated by James Legge.

1. In the third month of winter the sun is in Wû-nü, the constellation culminating at dusk being Lâu, and that culminating at dawn Tî.

2. Its days are zan and kwei. Its divine ruler is Kwan-hsü, and the (attendant) spirit is Hsüan-ming. Its creatures are the shell-covered. Its musical note is Yü, and its pitch-tube is Tâ Lü.

3. Its number is six. Its taste is salt. Its smell is that of things that are rotten. Its sacrifice is that at (the altar of) the path; and the part of the victim occupying the foremost place is the kidneys.

4. The wild geese go northwards. The magpie begins to build. The (cock) pheasant crows. Hens hatch.

5. The son of Heaven occupies the apartment on the right of the Hsüan Thang (Fane); rides in the dark-coloured carriage, drawn by the iron-black horses, and bearing the dark-coloured flag. He is dressed in the black robes, and wears the dark-coloured gems of jade. He cats millet and sucking-pig. The vessels which he uses are large and rather deep.

6. He issues orders to the proper officers to institute on a great scale all ceremonies against pestilence, to have (animals) torn in pieces on all sides, and (then) to send forth the ox of earth, to escort away the (injurious) airs of the cold.

7. Birds of prey fly high and rapidly.

8. They now offer sacrifices all round to (the spirits of) the hills and rivers, to the great ministers of the (ancient) deified sovereigns, and to the spirits of heaven (and earth).

9. In this month orders are given to the master of the Fishermen to commence the fishers' work. The son of Heaven goes in person (to look on). He partakes of the fish caught, first presenting some in the apartment at the back of the ancestral temple.

10. The ice is now abundant: thick and strong to the bottom of the waters and meres. Orders are given to collect it, which is done, and it is carried into (the ice-houses).

11. Orders are given to make announcement to the people to bring forth their seed of the five grains. The husbandmen are ordered to reckon up the pairs which they can furnish for the ploughing; to repair the handles and shares of their ploughs; and to provide all the other instruments for the fields.

12. Orders are given to the chief director of Music to institute a grand concert of wind instruments; and with this (the music of the year) is, closed.

13. Orders are given to the four Inspectors to collect and arrange the faggots to supply the wood and torches for the suburban sacrifices, those in the ancestral temple, and all others.

14. In this month the sun has gone through all his mansions; the moon has completed the number of her conjunctions; the stars return to (their places) in the heavens. The exact length (of the year) is nearly completed, and the year will soon begin again. (It is said), 'Attend to the business of your husbandmen. Let them not be employed on anything else.'

15. The son of Heaven, along with his ducal and other high ministers and his Great officers, revises the statutes for the states, and discusses the proceedings of the different seasons; to be prepared with what is suitable for the ensuing year.

16. Orders are given to the Grand recorder to make a list of the princes of the states according to the positions severally assigned to them, and of the victims required from them to supply the offerings for the worship of God dwelling in the great heaven, and at the altars of (the spirits of) the land and grain. Orders were also given to the states ruled by princes of the royal surname to supply the fodder and grain for the (victims used in the worship of the) ancestral temple. Orders are given, moreover, to the chief minister to make a list of (the appanages of) the various high ministers and Great officers, with the amount of the land assigned to the common people, and assess them with the victims which they are to contribute to furnish for the sacrifices to (the spirits presiding over) the hills, forests, and famous streams. All the people under the sky, within the nine provinces, must, without exception, do their utmost to contribute to the sacrifices:-to God dwelling in the great heaven; at the altars of the (spirits of the) land and grain; in the ancestral temple and the apartment at the back of it; and of the hills, forests, and famous streams.

17. If, in the last month of winter, the governmental proceedings proper to autumn were observed, the white dews would descend too early; the shelly creatures would appear in monstrous forms; throughout the four borders people would have to seek their places of shelter. If those proper to spring were observed, women with child and young children would suffer many disasters; throughout the states there would be many cases of obstinate disease; fate would appear to be adverse. If those proper to summer were observed, floods would work their ruin in the states; the seasonable snow would not fall, the ice would melt, and the cold disappear.

Book of Rites:1, 2 , 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 8

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