THE state of Khin took its name from its earliest principal city, in the
present district of Khing-shui, in Khin Kau, Kan-sû. Its chiefs claimed
to be descended from Yî, who appears in the Shû as the forester of Shun,
and the assistant of the great Yü in his labours on the flood of Yâo.
The history of his descendants is very imperfectly related till we come
to a Fei-Dze, who had charge of the herds of horses belonging to king
Hsiâo (B.C. 90989.5), and in consequence of his good services. was
invested with
[1. These things had been ornaments of the bridal chamber; and as the
widow thinks of them, her grief becomes more intense.]
the small territory of Khin, as an attached state. A descendant of his,
known as duke Hsiang, in consequence of his loyal services, when the
capital was moved to the cast in B.C. 770, was raised to the dignity of
an earl, and took his place among the great feudal princes of the
kingdom, receiving also a large portion of territory, which included the
ancient capital of the House of Kâu. In course of time Khin, as is well
known, superseded the dynasty of Kâu, having gradually moved its capital
more and more to the east. The people of Khin were, no doubt, mainly
composed of the wild tribes of the west.
ODE 6, STANZA 1. THE HWANG NIÂO.
LAMENT FOR THREE WORTHIES OF KHIN, WHO WERE BURIED IN THE SAME
GRAVE WITH DUKE MÛ.
There is no difficulty or difference in the interpretation of this
piece; and it brings us down to B.C. 621. Then died duke Mû, after
playing an important part in the north-west of China for thirty-nine
years. The Zo Kwan, under the sixth year of duke Wan, makes mention of
Mû's requiring that the three brothers here celebrated should be buried
with him, and of the composition of this piece in consequence. Sze-mâ
Khien says that this barbarous practice began with Mû's predecessor,
with whom sixty-six persons were buried alive, and that one hundred and
seventy-seven in all were buried with Mû. The death of the last
distinguished man of the House of Khin, the emperor [1], was
subsequently celebrated by the entombment with him of all the inmates of
his harem.
They flit about, the yellow birds, And rest upon the jujube trees [1].
Who followed duke Mû in the grave? Dze-kü Yen-hsî. And this Yen-hsî Was
a man above a hundred. When he came to the
[1. It is difficult to see the relation between these two allusive lines
and the rest of the stanza. Some say that it is this,-that the people
loved the three victims as they liked the birds; others that the birds
among the trees were in their proper place,--very different from the
brothers in the grave of duke Mû.]
grave, He looked terrified and trembled. Thou azure Heaven there! Could
he have been redeemed, We would have given a hundred (ordinary) men for
him[1].