A strange and vivid glimpse by firelight into distant darkness is
given by two Chinese songs, Odes i, vii, 3 and 4, in Legge's _Chinese
Classics_, IV, pp. 127 to 131. I have versified Mr Legge's prose. The
date was certainly more than 500, and probably 740 B.C., and the
locality northern China, probably Honan. Shuh means "younger brother,"
so that, except to those who believe the commentators, which I cannot,
the hero, like the poet, is anonymous,--"_The_ younger brother."
Both translations may be sung to the same air, "Scots Wha Ha'e," which
was a traditional hunting tune in the south of Scotland.
_N.B._--"Ribbons" for reins is a literal translation. That familiar
metaphor is over 2600 years old.