古谣谚 卷六

弘农王悲歌

后汉书何后纪附王美人传

天道易兮我何艰。

弃万乘兮退守藩。

逆臣见迫兮命不延。

逝將去汝兮適幽玄。

A song sung by the Han emperor who was stripped of his throne and forced to take poison to kill himself.

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唐姬悲歌

后汉书何后纪附王美人传

皇天崩兮后土颓。

身为帝兮命夭摧。

死生路异兮从此乖。

奈我煢独兮心中哀。

A song sung by the concubine of the emperor in 0208 expressing her sorrow over the forced suicide of the emperor.

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更始时长安中语

后汉书刘玄传

灶下养。

中郎將。

烂羊胃。

骑都尉。

烂羊头。

关內侯。

Words spread in Chang An describing how government posts could be purchased so that even cooks were becoming officials.

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时人为甄丰语

后汉书彭宠传

夜半客。

甄长伯。

Words referring to an official who used to go into the emperor’s court at midnight to visit Wang Mang, who acted as the regent of the court.

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公孙述闻梦中人语

后汉书公孙述传

八私子系。

十二为期。

A warlord who claimed to have heard people telling him in his dream that he could be an emperor for a span of time.

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蜀中童谣

后汉书公孙述传

黄牛白腹。

五銖当復。

A folk song sung in present day Si Chuan. It refers to the control of the throne, which would be given back to the Liu’s of the Han imperial family.

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魏郡舆人为岑熙歌

后汉书岑彭传

我有枳棘。

岑君伐之。

我有蟊贼\。

岑君遏之。

狗吠不惊。

足下生氂。

含哺鼓腹﹑焉知凶灾。

我喜我生﹑独丁斯时。

美矣岑君﹑於戏休茈。

A song praising Chen Xi who was doing a superb job governing Wei county.

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马廖引长安语

后汉书马廖传

城中好高髻。

四方高一尺。

城中好广眉。

四方且半额。

城中好大袖。

四方全匹帛。

Words in the city of Chang An about how the emperor’s extravagant taste was imposing much financial misery on the people.

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关东为鲁丕语

后汉书鲁丕传

五经復兴﹑鲁叔陵。

Words praising Lu Pi who revived the learning of important scriptures.

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光武引谚

后汉书宋弘传

贵易交。

富易妻。

A saying referring to how easy it is to make friends with people and procure wives when one is wealthy.

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荆州民为郭贺歌

后汉书郭贺传

厥德仁明﹑郭乔卿。

忠正朝廷上下平。

A song sung by people of Jing Chou praising their governor Kuo He.

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京兆乡里为冯豹语

后汉书冯衍传

道德彬彬﹑冯仲文。

Words referring to the morality of Fong Pao.

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南阳为杜诗语

后汉书杜诗传

前有召父。

后有杜母。

Words spread by the people of Nan Yang in praising its official Du Shi.

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渔阳民为张堪歌

后汉书张堪传

桑无附枝。

麦穗两岐。

张君为政。

乐不可支。

A song sung by people of Yu Yang in praising its official Zhang Kan.

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蜀郡民为廉范歌

后汉书廉范传

廉叔度。

来何暮。

不禁火。

民安作。

平生无襦今五裤。

A song sung by people of Shu in praising its official Lian Fan.

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时人为廉范语

后汉书廉范传

前有管鲍。

后有庆廉。

Words referring to the valuable friendship between Qing Hong and Lian Fan.

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交阯民为贾琮歌

后汉书贾琮传

贾父来晚。

使我先反。

今见清平。

吏不敢饭。

A song sung by people in current day Vietnam in praising the good policies enforced by Jia Zong.

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肃宗引谚

后汉书曹褒传

作舍道傍。

三年不成。

A saying referring to how long it takes for reforms of ritual ceremonies to be discussed among scholars who all have their own ideas.

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诸儒为贾逵语

后汉书贾逵传

问事不休﹑贾长头。

The person who had the most number of questions on scriptures was the tall guy, Jia Kui.

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会稽童谣

后汉书张霸传

弃我戟。

捐我矛。

盗贼\尽。

吏皆休。

Referring to the good county official Zhang Ba in Hui Ji. He was able to eliminate crimes such as robbery and burglary without using much man power.

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京师为桓典语

后汉书桓典传

行行且止。

避驄马御史。

One should stop from time to time when walking on the streets in order to avoid that official who had very stern principles and rode on a blue and white horse.

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时人为丁鸿语

后汉书丁鸿传

殿中无双﹑丁孝公。

In the emperor’s court, no one was as knowledgeable as Ding Hong was.

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临淮吏人为朱暉歌

后汉书诸暉传

疆直自遂。

南阳朱季。

吏畏其威。

人怀其惠。

A song praising the good work of Zhu Hui.

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京师为胡广谚

后汉书胡广传

万事不理﹑问伯始。

天下中庸﹑有胡公。

Referring to how Hu Guang was knowledgeable and yet also very humble and amiable.

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时人为王符语

后汉书王符传

徒见二千石。

不如一缝掖

Referring to the joy of meeting someone whom one admires.

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关西为杨震语

后汉书杨震传

关西孔子﹑杨伯起。

Yang Zhen is the Confucius of the Guan Xi area.

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顺阳吏民为刘陶歌

后汉书刘陶传

邑然不乐。

思我刘君。

何时復来。

安此下民。

A song praising the good work Liu Tao had done in lowering the crime rate substantially for Shun Yang.

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虞詡引谚

后汉书虞詡传

关西出將。

关东出相。

Good generals came from the Guan Xi area and good secretaries came from the Guan Dong area.

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京师为周举语

后汉书周举传

五经纵横﹑周宣光。

Referring to how knowledgeable of the five major scriptures Zhou Ju was.

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京师为光禄茅才谣

后汉书黄琬传

欲得不能。

光禄茂才。

Referring to how some government posts were for sale, preventing some poor people with abilities from serving in those positions.

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潁川为荀爽语

后汉书荀淑传

荀氏八龙。

慈明无双。

Of the eight sons of Xun Shu, Xun Shuang was the most outstanding.

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时人为陈氏语

后汉书陈寔传

公惭卿﹑卿惭长。

Referring to how men of four generations in one Chen household occupied high positions in the central government and how they became arrogant.

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京师为李氏语

后汉书李固传

父不肯立帝。

子不肯立王。

Noting that the father and son of one Li household were powerful in terms of their influence on who could become the emperor during Eastern Han dynasty.

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京兆民语

后汉书延篤传

前有赵张三王。

后有边延二君。

People in the capital naming the good mayors in a sequence.

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陈蕃引鄙谚

后汉书陈蕃传

盗不过五女门。

A burglar would not rob a household with over five mistresses as those women would have impoverished the household with their expenditures.

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三府为朱震谚

后汉书陈蕃传

车如鸡栖马如狗。

疾恶如风朱伯厚。

Referring to how Zhu Zhen could not tolerate any injustice.

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甘陵民谣

后汉书党錮传序

天下规矩﹑房伯武。

因师获印﹑周仲进。

The rules in the world seemed to have been set up by Fang Buo Wu. Zhou Zhong Jin became a secretary to the emperor because of having previously been the emperor’s teacher.

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汝南南阳二郡民谣

后汉书党錮传序

汝南太守范孟博。

南阳宗资主画诺。

南阳太守岑公孝。

弘农成璡\但坐啸。

Ru Nan official Fan Meng knew many things. Because Nan Yang official Zong Zi was illiterate, he could only grant permissions without knowing what was on the document. Mr. Chen was very filial. Cheng Jin was short tempered.

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太学诸生语

后汉书党錮传序

天下模楷﹑李元礼。

不畏强御﹑陈仲举。

天下俊秀﹑王叔茂。

The world’s role model was Li Yan Li, and Chen Zhong Ju was not afraid to say the bad things some powerful people had done. Wang Shu Mao was very talented.

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天下为贾彪语

后汉书贾彪传

贾氏三虎。

伟节最怒。

Of the three sons of the Jia householod, Jia Biao was the most outstanding.

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陈琳引谣

后汉书何进传

掩目捕雀。

Close one’s eye and try to catch sparrows: this refers to one’s not doing the right thing.

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冀州民为皇甫蒿歌

后汉书皇甫蒿传

天下大乱兮市为墟。

母不保子兮妻失夫。

赖得皇甫兮復安居。

A song praising the charitable act of Huang Fu Song in relieving the people’s starvation.

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道士负布歌

后汉书董卓传

布乎。

Referring to how Dong Zhuo could not take a hint on tips regarding his assassin

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献帝初幽州童谣

后汉书公孙瓚传

燕南垂。

赵北际。

中央不合大如礪。

唯有此中可避世。

A children’s song referring to the arrogant warlord Gong Sun Zan.

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蒲亭乡为仇览谚

后汉书仇览传

父母何在在我庭。

化我鳲梟哺所生。

A proverb encouraging people to be filial to parents.

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京师为董宣歌

后汉书董宣传

枹鼓不鸣﹑董少平。

A song praising the world class wrestler Dong Xuan

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凉州民为樊曄歌

后汉书樊曄传

游子常苦贫。

力子天所当。

寧见乳虎穴。

不入冀府寺。

大笑期必死。

忿怒或见置。

嗟我樊府君。

安可再遭值。

A song praising the governor of Liang Zhou, Fan Ye, who executed the law strictly.

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天下为四侯语

后汉书宦者单超传

左回天。

具独坐。

徐臥虎。

唐两墯。

Referring to the five eunuchs who were dominating the imperial court.

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时人为任安语

后汉书任安传

欲知仲桓﹑问任安。

居今行古﹑任定祖。

Referring to the supreme scholar Ren An.

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京师为杨政语

后汉书杨政传

说经鏗鏗﹑杨子行。

Referring to Yang Zheng who was outstanding in his interpretation of the scriptures.

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京师为戴冯语

后汉书戴冯传

解经不穷﹑戴侍中。

Referring to Dai Ping who was considered to be the most outstanding in interpreting scriptures in the imperial court.

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寿春乡里为召驯语

后汉书召驯传

德行恂恂﹑召伯春。

Referring to the highly regarded scholar Zhao Xun who was considered to be virtuous.

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时人为周泽语

后汉书周泽传

生世不谐。

作太常妻。

一岁三百六十日。

三百五十九日齐。

一日不齐醉如泥。

既作事。

復低迷。

Referring to being thrown in jail, the harsh treatment Zhou Ze’s wife got after asking what ailments were bothering Zhou Ze, who had very petty rules during his constantly on-going vegetarian retreat for the purpose of eliminating his ailments.

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时人为许慎语

后汉书许慎传

五经无双﹑许叔重。

Referring to Xu Shen to whom no one was a parallel in terms of knowing the five major Confucian scriptures.

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京师为黄香号

后汉书黄香传

天下无双。

江夏黄童。

Referring to Huang Xiang who not only strictly followed filial piety but also was very incomparably learned.

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豫章乡里为雷义陈重语

后汉书陈重传

胶漆自谓坚。

不如雷与陈。

Referring to the friendship between Lei Yi and Chen Zhong. It was so close that no other friendship could be as close.

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梁沛间为范冉歌

后汉书范冉传

甑中生尘﹑范史云。

釜中生鱼﹑范莱芜。

Referring to a former civil servant, Fan Ran, who was framed and forced to escape to a countryside where he was so poor as to have only dust in his canisters and nothing to cook in his pots.

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益都为任文公语

后汉书任文公传

任文公﹑智无双。

Referring to the unparalleled wisdom of Ren Wen Gong.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

光武述时人语

后汉书郭宪传

关东觥觥﹑郭子横。

Referring to the Guo Xian’s straight talk in which he was not even afraid of upholding his contending stance in front of the emperor.

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平原人为王君公语

后汉书逢萌传

避世墙东﹑王君公。

Referring to the hermit Wang Jun Gong.

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京师为井丹语

后汉书井丹传

五经纷纶﹑井大春。

Referring to Jing Dan’s skill in discussing the Five Scriptures.

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梁鸿五噫歌

后汉书梁鸿传

陟彼北芒兮﹑噫。

顾览帝京兮﹑噫。

宫室崔嵬兮﹑噫。

人之劬劳兮﹑噫。

辽辽未央兮﹑噫。

A song sung by Laing Hong expressing his discontent towards the emperor’s policies which were tormenting the people.

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时人为戴遵语

后汉书戴良传

关东大豪﹑戴子高。

Referring to the generous millionaire Dai Zun.

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班昭女诫引鄙谚

后汉书曹世叔妻班昭传

生男如狼。

犹恐其尪。

生女如鼠。

犹恐其虎。

One should like one’s son as aggressive as wolves and should even be afraid that he would be too wimpy. One should want one’s daughter to be constantly scared as a mouse and even be afraid that she would be as harsh as tigers.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

益州民为尹就谚

后汉书南蛮传

虏来尚可。

尹来杀我。

When the barbaric tribal people came, we could put up with it, yet when General Yin Jiu was dispatched by the government, he came to slaughter us.

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哀牢行者歌

后汉书哀牢夷传

汉德广。

开不宾。

度博南。

越兰津。

度兰仓。

为它人。

A song sung by people who were sent forth to the frontiers involuntarily to develop new colonies out of a very harsh environment.

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京师为鲍永鲍恢语

后汉书异文

贵威敛手避二鲍。

One should try not to do bad things in order to avoid getting caught by Pao Cheng and Pao Hui.

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京师为鲍宣鲍永鲍昱歌

后汉书逸文

鲍氏驄。

三人司隶再入公。

马虽疲。

行步工。

Referring to the three officials Pao Xuan, Pao Yong, and Pao Yi who all rode on blue and white horses. Though their horses were skinny, they walked as though they were really strong.

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汲县长老为崔瑗歌

后汉书逸文

上天降神明。

锡我仁慈父。

临民布德泽。

恩惠施以序。

穿沟广灌溉。

决渠作甘雨。

A song praising the way Cui Xuan created arable lands out of salty land and established a good irrigation system.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

弘农人为吴祐谣

后汉书逸文

君不我忧。

人何以休。

不行界署。

焉知人处。

Referring to the good local official, Wu You, who was managing everything well.

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桓灵时人为选举语二则

后汉书逸文

举秀才。

不知书。

察孝廉。

父別居。

寒素清白浊如泥。

高第良將怯如鸡。

古人欲达勤诵经。

今世图官免治生。

Referring to how the system of filling government posts by references was failing, since the people hired were all incompetent.

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长安中为郎舍谣

后汉书献帝纪

头白皓然。

食不充粮。

裹衣褰裳。

当还故乡。

圣主愍念。

悉用补郎。

舍是布衣。

被服玄黄。

Referring to the emperor’s awarding some senior intellectuals in the court with funds allowing them to retire to their homelands.

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京师为袁成谚

后汉书袁绍传

事不谐。

问文开。

People should ask Yuan Cheng about how to get along with another person well.

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时人为吕布语

后汉书吕布传

人中有吕布。

马中有赤菟。

Of all the military personnel, Lu Bu was the most outstanding, of all the horses, his horse Chu Tu was the best.

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羊陈元引谚

后汉书仇览传注引谢承书曰

孤犊触乳。

骄子骂母。

Spoiled children tend to scold their mothers.

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时人为葛龚语

后汉书葛龚传

作奏虽工。

宜去葛龚。

Although Ge Gong’s writing was good, he should be taken off the list of writers.

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更始时南阳童谣

续汉书五行志一

谐不谐。

在赤眉。

得不得。

在河北。

With those bandits who had their eyebrows painted red, there would not be peace. The social order was recovered by the first emperor of Eastern Han, who originated the task from He Pei.

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王莽末天水童谣

续汉书五行志一

出吴门。

望緹群。

见一蹇人。

言欲上天。

令天可上。

地上安得民。

Referring to the impractical ambitions of one warlord Huai Xiao. The children’s song went like this: if one could rise to heaven, there would not be any people on earth.

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顺帝末京都童谣

续汉书五行志一

直如弦。

死道边。

曲如鉤。

反封侯。

Referring to how Li Gu was executed after making decent suggestions to the empress as to who should succeed the throne.

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桓帝初天下童谣

续汉书五行志一

小麦青青大麦枯。

谁当获者妇与姑。

丈人何在西击胡。

吏买马。

君具车。

请为诸君鼓咙胡。

A children’s song about how men were drafted to go to war with the invading neighboring tribes on the Chinese borders, leaving only women to do the farming.

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桓帝初京都童谣

续汉书五行志一

城上乌。

尾毕逋。

一年生九雏。

公为吏。

子为徒。

一徒死。

百乘车。

车班班。

入河间。

河间奼女工数钱。

以钱为室金作堂。

石上慊慊舂黄梁。

梁下有悬鼓。

我欲击之丞卿怒。

This is a children’s song describing how officials were corrupted and how the royal family were wasting money with construction, and how there were no channels through which officials with integrity could make complaints to the emperor.

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又桓帝初京都童谣

续汉书五行志一

游平卖印自有平。

不辟贤豪及大姓。

A children’s song referring to how changes occurred after General Do Wu came to power and was fair in the hiring of officials since he disregarded the social and financial background of applicants.

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桓帝末京都童谣

续汉书五行志一

矛田一顷中有井。

四方纤纤不可整。

嚼復嚼。

今年尚可后年鐃。

A children’s song referring to the current political situation in which there were good officials and good regulations. However, after General Dou Wu was executed, things began to decline.

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又桓帝末京都童谣

续汉书五行志一

白盖小车何延延。

河间来合谐。

河间来合谐。

A children’s song referring to the political situation after Emperor Huan died and Emperor Ning took over. How some people gained power and others lost both power and their lives because of this change.

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灵帝末京都童谣

续汉书五行志一

侯非侯。

王非王。

千乘万骑上北芒。

A children’s song referring to how some powerful people who were not emperors, yet were just as powerful as emperors, were followed by an entourage of officials.

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灵帝中平中京都歌

续汉书五行志一

承乐世﹑董逃。

游四郭﹑董逃。

蒙天恩﹑董逃。

带金紫﹑董逃。

行谢恩﹑董逃。

整车骑﹑董逃。

垂欲发﹑董逃。

与中辞﹑董逃。

出西门﹑董逃。

瞻宫殿﹑董逃。

望京城﹑董逃。

日夜绝﹑董逃。

心摧伤﹑董逃。

A folk song sung in the capital area during Emperor Ning’s reign implying the life process of the man, Dong Zhuo. The song details events from his seizure of power to his demise.

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献帝初京师都童谣

续汉书五行志一

千里草。

何青青。

十日卜。

不得生。

A children’s song referring to the same person as in 0293.

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建安初荆州童谣

续汉书五行志一

八九年间始欲衰。

至十三年无孑遗。

A children’s song referring to the warlord Liu Biao who dominated Jing Zhou for eight to nine years and then suffered a complete decline in thirteen years.

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刘圣公宾客醉歌

续汉书逸文

朝烹两都尉。

游徼后来。

用调羹味。

A song sung by the drunk guests at Liu Sheng Gong’s banquet. The song was teasing one of the guests, You Xi, who tied up and beat hundreds of these drunk guests.

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京兆为李变谣

续汉书逸文

我府君。

道教举。

恩如春。

威如虎。

刚不吐。

弱不茹。

爱如母。

训如父。

A folk song in the capital area praising the then mayor Li Xie for his good work for the people.

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陇水歌

续汉书郡国志

陇头流水。

分离四下。

念我行役。

飘然旷野。

登高远望。

涕零变墮。

A song sung by Eastern Chinese people who were dispatched to western China for forced labor and could not help sing this song and shed tears when they climbed up a hill looking to the east.