詩経
鹊巢
Anonymous
维鹊有巢
维鸠居之
之子于归
百两御之
维鹊有巢
维鸠方之
之子于归
百两将之
维鹊有巢
维鸠盈之
之子于归
百两成之
翻訳
The magpie has its nest; the dove dwells in it. This young woman goes to her marriage; a hundred carriages come to receive her. The magpie has its nest; the dove takes its place there. This young woman goes to her marriage; a hundred carriages escort her. The magpie has its nest; the dove fills it. This young woman goes to her marriage; a hundred carriages complete the rite.
解説
"Que Chao" is a wedding poem from the "Shao Nan" section of the Book of Songs. It uses the image of a magpie's nest occupied by a dove to introduce the scene of a woman entering marriage and being received by her husband's household with formal ceremony. The opening image is essential: "The magpie has its nest; the dove dwells in it." In later Chinese, the phrase "a dove occupying a magpie's nest" became a negative idiom meaning to take over someone else's place. That later meaning should not be imposed too strongly on this poem. Here the image functions as an evocative beginning: a nest is made, and another bird comes to live in it. This prepares the idea of a bride entering a new household. "This young woman goes to her marriage" is the human counterpart to the bird image. In the Book of Songs, "yu gui" is a fixed expression for a woman's marriage into her husband's family. The repeated "hundred carriages" emphasizes the dignity and scale of the wedding procession. The number is likely conventional or exaggerated, not a literal count. It shows that the bride is being received with proper respect and ritual fullness. The three verbs at the ends of the stanzas create progression: the carriages receive her, escort her, and complete the ceremony. The poem is therefore not static repetition. It moves through the stages of the marriage procession and ritual fulfillment. Compared with "Tao Yao," which blesses the bride's beauty, fertility, and household harmony, "Que Chao" places more emphasis on formal reception and marital order. It is less about private feeling and more about the public, ritualized transition of a woman into a new family. The poem's beauty lies in its ceremonial simplicity. Bird nest, bride, carriages, ritual completion: through repetition and small variation, it turns marriage into a visible and solemn social act.
作者紹介
"Que Chao" comes from the "Shao Nan" section of the "Airs of the States" in the Book of Songs. Its author is unknown. The Book of Songs is the earliest anthology of Chinese poetry, containing more than three hundred poems from roughly the early Western Zhou to the mid-Spring and Autumn period. "Shao Nan," together with "Zhou Nan," forms the opening part of the "Airs of the States" and contains many poems related to marriage, household life, ritual, labor, and social order. "Que Chao" is a representative wedding poem, using the nest image to evoke the bride's entrance into a new household and the formal completion of marriage rites.