The mountain stream twists like a snake, then bends at sharp angles,
Through dense woods and deep shades, it reveals nature's moods.
With no flowers, the honeybee's supply route is cut off;
Ants, sensing rain, complete their battle array's formation.
The cicada sheds its shell, drinking wind and sucking dew;
The crane's bones are light, soaring over ravines and clouds.
The mynah can dance for its master, Zu Ren;
The tamed gull wishes to make a pact with the old fisherman.
The swallows of Wang and Xie's houses are not forgotten,
But they refuse to befriend Ying, the friend of Li Sheng.
Egrets fight over feeding grounds, one after another;
Magpies claim north and south, opening their gateways wide.
In spring ponds, fish splash about, nursing their young;
On frosty isles, wild geese fall silent, uttering no cry.
The woodpecker taps out talismans, skilled at expelling worms;
The wine-buyer lifts his pot, urging the farmers to plough.
Why does the clam know to keep its threefold silence?
The crab, sitting in literary pride, ends up boiled in a grand cauldron.
In Ba and Ying, painting eyebrows alters the musical scales;
The tongues of Yi and Qin decide alliances of vertical and horizontal.
The goose scolds at the strange characters in Jin calligraphy;
The rooster's cry to urge the ancestor's whip is no evil sound.
The ox lies replete at sunset, chewing its cud;
The deer is startled in vain by dried leaves mistakenly thrown.
A single branch is enough for the wren to perch;
The cunning rabbit prepares three burrows for its schemes.
Tadpoles in mud make ancient script on grass;
Snail trails on Su's wall form exquisite seal characters.
The caterpillar moth lifts its head, greedy even unto death;
The mantis on the wall brandishes its arms, inviting disaster itself.
The muntjac sees a man and raises its head high;
The owl, having caught a mouse, swells with pride.
The pheasant sacrifices its kind, willing to be a decoy;
The duck understands human speech and roughly knows its name.
The goat, fierce and unruly, is falsely called the bearded registrar;
The bookworm, grown fat, feasts on Master Chu's pages.
Though its color is most fair, the ape retreats deep into the woods;
With bones not many needed, dogs are sure to fight.
Why does the frog rage for the sake of justice?
The turtledove, content in its clumsiness, has no schemes at all.
All toil under heaven share the same dream;
Zhuang Zhou's butterfly transforms under the bright moon.