by Mencius (372 BCE - 289 BCE)
Translation by Anonymous / Unidentified Author
Ox mountain was covered by trees
Language: English  after the Chinese (中文)
Ox mountain was covered by trees, but it stands by a populous city. The people climbed up with their axes and choppers; they cut the wood down, and the mountain lost its vegetation. Yet evenso, there came the night breeze. Rain and dew moistened it: green shoots began to grow. Cattle and sheep grazed there. After some time, the mountain was gaunt and bare. People who see it barren today imagine it always treeless. Who knows that the woods were tampered with, hewn with axes, beaten with clubs? The trees are lopped, day after day; how will the mountain flourish? Confucius said these words: „Hold on and it will remain. Let go and it disappears. One never knows the time it comes. One never sees where it has gone.“ In making his remarks, perhaps he referred to the heart.
Authorship:
- by Anonymous / Unidentified Author [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in Chinese (中文) by Mencius (372 BCE - 289 BCE) [text unavailable]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Judith Weir (b. 1954), "Ox mountain was covered by trees", 1990 [soprano, counter-tenor, baritone, orchestra], Chester Music Ltd [text verified 1 time]
Researcher for this page: Martin Jahn
This text was added to the website: 2016-02-10
Line count: 18
Word count: 139