1. Grand is the guardian hill of Han! There the Great Yu his work began, The land from wreck to save. Thence to the capital there leads A noble road. See there the steeds That draw Han's lord, as he proceeds Investitute to crave. Called now his father's seat to fill, He goes to hear the royal will. To him the king thus said: "As served your fathers, so serve you. Be careful my commands to do. Early and late show active zeal; With reverence seek the kingdom's weal. And thus your fealty paid Shall strengthen the great fief I give;— Marquis of Han you long shall live. What princes come not to my court Deal with, until they here resort, And thus your sovereign aid."

2. Oh! noble was the marquis' team. Both long and large, the steeds beseem His youthful state and port. His mace of rank he with him brought, When audience of the king he sought, And bowed within his court. The king his royal favor showed. And on him princely gifts bestowed. Those were—the dragon flag, whence streamed Its pennon that with plumelets gleamed; The brilliant yoke; the bamboo screen; The robe with dragon on it seen; Red slippers; and the hooks to shine On his steeds' breasts; the frontlets fine, Whose carvings should their foreheads grace; The board across his car to place; The tiger's skin, to throw around That leaning board with leather bound. Then last there came the rein ends bright, Tipt with gilt rings,—a splendid sight.

3. The court now leaving, home he hies; But first he offers sacrifice, And prays the spirit of the way Guidance to give. That night to stay At Too he planned. The parting feast Hsien-fu there gives to speed the guest. The court sends forth its many lords, To taste the cheer the king affords. An hundred vases stand around, All with the choicest spirits crowned. The mats roast turtle and fresh fish Present, and many a lordly dish. And bamboo sprouts, and tender shoots, And sauces fine, and fragrant fruits, With their rich perfume fill the air. Oh! but it was a banquet rare! It closed, and lo! before the gate, With mighty steeds, a car of state!

4. Now back in Han, its lord must wed, And home a wife shall bring. To Chueh-fu's child his suit he paid, The niece of Fen, our king. The union fixed, in grand array, To Chueh-fu's house he takes his way; An hundred cars attend. The tinkling music falls and swells, Emitted by their numerous bells, As on their course they wend. The glory of that day was great. Lo! round the bride in fairest state, The virgins, her companions, stand, Close following her on either hand. As lovely clouds that slowly sail, And the moon's greater glory veil, So beautiful were they. The marquis looked, with rapture thrilled. Never was gate with splendor filled, As Chueh-fu's gate that day.

5. Great fame Chueh-fu bas got in war, And every state has seen his car; But through the land, where'er he went, To settle his dear child intent, No state like Han he saw. Oh! pleasant is the state of Han! Chueh saw the mighty streams that ran Through all its length, and then the lakes, With forests girt and tangled brakes, That admiration draw. Big bream and tench the waters fill, And in the glades on every hill Are multitudes of deer. In wilder parts the grisly bear, Tigers and wild eats, make their lair. Hunters their prey find here. Chueh saw, and pleasure filled his breast, And here his child found joy and rest.

6. The multitudes of Yen had reared Han's walls, and made them strong. Its rulers then no foeman feared; There had they dwelt for long. The first of them a charge had got, From Han, as from a central spot, To rule the tribes around. The marquis now got wider charge, His jurisdiction to enlarge O'er all the northern ground. The Chuy and Mih to curb and awe, And bring to own Chou's sovereign law, Would his first care require. Then stronger walls and deeper moat Would silence each rebellious note, And all with fear inspire. The fields too he must now define, And the fixed revenue assign, As in the king's domain. His bearers shall to court repair, With skins stript from the tawny bear, The white fox and the panther red, In yearly course a tribute paid, The king's trust to maintain.

About this reader

What is Scripture?

Scripture is a browser-based reader for sixteen sacred texts spanning multiple religious and literary traditions. It provides chapter-by-chapter navigation, full-text search across all works, word concordance with frequency analysis, verse-linked notes, text-to-speech, and deep linking to any chapter or verse.

Traditions Represented

The collection spans Abrahamic, East Asian, Zoroastrian, Buddhist, and Nordic traditions. Christian texts include the King James Version Old and New Testaments (1611) and Apocrypha. The Quran uses Marmaduke Pickthall's 1930 English translation. Latter-day Saint scripture includes the Book of Mormon (1830), Doctrine and Covenants (1835), and Pearl of Great Price (1851).

Confucian works include James Legge's translations of The Four Books (1893) and the Book of Poetry (1876). The Tao Te Ching uses Legge's 1891 translation. The Kojiki uses Basil Hall Chamberlain's 1919 English translation. Zoroastrian texts include the Bundahishn (E. W. West, 1880) and the Arda Viraf (Haug & West, 1872). The Lotus Sutra uses Hendrik Kern's 1884 translation. The Finnish Kalevala uses John Martin Crawford's 1888 translation, and the Norse Poetic Edda uses Henry Adams Bellows' 1923 translation.

Public Domain Translations

Every translation in this collection is in the public domain. The most recent translation dates to 1930 (Pickthall's Quran). All texts are freely available for reading, study, quotation, and redistribution with no copyright restrictions.

Concordance and Related Passages

The concordance indexes every word across all sixteen works, showing frequency and distribution. TF-IDF (term frequency-inverse document frequency) scoring identifies passages with similar vocabulary across different traditions, enabling comparative study without requiring prior knowledge of each text's structure. TF-IDF weights words that are frequent in one chapter but rare across the corpus, surfacing meaningful thematic connections rather than common function words.

Deep Linking

Every chapter and verse has a permanent URL. Chapter links follow the pattern /scripture/{work}/{book}-{chapter} (e.g., /scripture/ot/gen-1 for Genesis 1). Verse links append the verse number (e.g., /scripture/ot/gen-1:26 for Genesis 1:26). These URLs can be shared, bookmarked, or cited directly.

Accessibility

Scripture supports keyboard navigation throughout: Tab moves between controls, Enter activates verse actions, and arrow keys navigate chapters. The reading pane has a skip-to-content link. All overlays (search, concordance) are focus-trapped ARIA dialogs. Dynamic content regions use aria-live for screen reader announcements. High-contrast mode is available via the theme toggle. Verse numbers are visible to assistive technology. No flashing content or motion hazards.

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