Local Dialects: Five Poems: No. 3
(3)
方 言： 五 首
赠 君 一 法 决 狐 疑
不 用 钻 龟 与 祝 蓍。
试 玉 要 烧 三 日 满
辨 材 须 待 七 年 期。
周 公 恐 惧 流 言 后
王 莽 谦 恭 未 篡 时。
向 使 当 初 身 便 死
一 生 真 伪 复 谁 知？
Fang Yan: Wu Shou
(3)
Zeng jun yi fa jue hu yi
Bu yong zuan jun yu zhu shi.
Shi yu yao shao san ri man
Bian cai xu dai qi nian qi.
Zhou gong kong ju liu yan hou
Wang mang qian gong wei cuan shi.
Xiang shi dang chu shen bian si
Yi sheng zhen wei fu shei zhi?
Local Dialects: Five Poems: No. 3
(3)
Send as a gift to you, one way on how to dispel doubts and misgivings
Do not use the omens of cracked turtle shells and yarrow sticks.
For three days set fire to the rocks to see if they are jade or not
Must wait seven years to differentiate the timber of the camphor and rubber trees.
Zhou Gong, as his nephew’s regent, walked away into the mountains, and was later discovered to be good virtuous
Wang Mang seemed modest and polite, but was actually a usurper
In one’s life who knows what is really true and what is false?
Notes:
Zhou Gong: Duke of Zhou during the early Zhou Dynasty. He was famous for being a loyal regent for his nephew King Cheng (r. 1042-1035 BC). Zhou was also credited with writing the Yi Jing (I Ching), the Book of Poetry, and the Rites of Zhou. He used the Doctrine of Heaven to consolidate the power and territory of the early Zhou Dynasty.
Wang Mang: (45 BC-23 AD) Famous Western Han Dynasty official who seized the throne are founded the Xin Dynasty (r. 9-23 AD) between the Western and Eastern Han dynasties.