Three-Character Classic st.9-12, attrib. Wang Yinglin

9.
When Xiang was nine years old,
He could warm their bed:
Filial duty to parents—
This we all should grasp.

香九龄
能温席
孝于亲
所当执

10.
When Rong had but four years,
He passed on bigger pears:
Fraternal duty to elder—
It’s good to learn this first.

融四岁
能让梨
弟于长
宜先知

11.
First filial, fraternal—
Next we watch and listen:
Understand the numbers
And recognize the words.

首孝弟
次见闻
知某数
识某文

12.
The ones and then the tens,
The tens and then the hundreds,
The hundreds and the thousands,
The thousands and ten-thousands.

一而十
十而百
百而千
千而万

• 9-10: Wang Xiang and Kong Rong are exemplars of filial piety and fraternal duty. • 12: Chinese traditionally groups the digits of large numbers in fours, not threes, so ten-thousand is a natural culmination. (Anyone with experience with beginning readers will recognize the kind of passage this stanza kicks off, which continues for several stanzas. The cadences of a list can be interesting to little kids, but it’s hard to make it sing.)

—L.