Where he was met by the wood-cutters.
He was placed on the cold ice,
And a bird screened and supported him with its wings.
When the bird went away,
Hau Ki began to wail.
His cry was long and loud,
So that his voice filled the whole way.[17]
[[289]]
The ode goes on to tell that when Hau Ki grew up he promoted husbandry and founded the sacrifices of his house. Some of the Osirian-Tammuz traditions were attached to his memory, but, as Legge says, “he has not displaced the older Shan-nung, with whom, on his father’s side, he had a connection as ‘the Father of Husbandry’ ”.[18]
Before Wu became Emperor, a red man came out of the river to secure the support of allies, and phœnixes brought messages to the effect that the reigning dynasty was doomed. The empire could not be enjoyed by the Shang King; “the powerful spirits of the earth have left it; all the spirits are whisked away; the conjunction of the five planets in Fang brightens all within the four seas”.[19] King Wen, the father of Wu, to whom this revelation had been made, was a ruler in the west, and knew that his son’s mission in life was the regeneration of the empire.