The poems about the pleasant pastoral life are as follows:
1. "Village Children Playing on the Stream" - Lu You
After the rain, the stream flows across the embankment and is flat, watching leisurely Village boy Xie Wanqing. Bamboo horses rush through the water, while paper kites stalk the wind. In the third winter, he temporarily studied Confucianism, while Qianqiu continued to work as a farmer for his father. If you are illiterate enough to be able to pay for taxes and servitude, you don't need to work hard to admire the high officials.
Translation:
After the rain, the stream overflowed the embankment and was almost level with the embankment. I took the time to watch the village children thank God for the clear sky in the evening. Some rode bamboo horses and stumbled into the mud pit, and some flew kites, and the kites flew wildly in the wind. During the three months of winter, he studied with a private school teacher, and during the busy farming season, he went home to farm with his father and brother. It’s enough to be literate enough to cope with taxes and labor. If you study hard, you don’t need to envy the princes and nobles.
2. "Old Songs of the Wild Mountain Farmers" - Zhang Ji
The poor old farmer lives in the mountains and cultivates three or four acres of mountain fields. The seedlings were so sparse and taxed that they could not be eaten, so they were imported into official warehouses and turned into soil. At the end of the year, people are hoeing and plowing in an empty room, and calling their children to climb mountains to harvest acorns. Xijiang Jia Ke has hundreds of dendrobium trees, and the dogs raised in the boat will eat meat.
Translation:
The old man lives in poverty in the mountains and makes a living by cultivating three or four acres of mountain land. The land is small, the taxes are high, and there is no food. The grain was sent to the government warehouses, where it eventually rotted and turned into soil. All year round, only hoes and rakes were left in the empty house, and the family had no choice but to ask their sons to go up the mountain to collect acorns to satisfy their hunger. On the ships of wealthy merchants from the west of the Yangtze River, hundreds of jewels were measured in dendrobium, and even the dogs kept on the ships ate meat all year round.
3. "Guan Tian Jia" - Wei Yingwu
It rains lightly and all the flowers are new, and a thunder startles the insects. The Tian family was free for a few days, and farming began. The young and strong are all in the wild, and the fields and gardens are also in order. Jing Changyan came back and drank water from Duxi Stream. Hungry people do not suffer from it, and nourishment brings joy. There is no storage in the warehouse, and the corvee is still there. Those who are ashamed and do not cultivate will be rewarded with food and money.
Translation:
After the spring rain, all the flowers look brand new. A sound of spring thunder awakens all the hibernating animals in the soil. The farmers had only a few days of leisure before spring plowing began. Since the day of the Waking of Insects, I have to get up early and work in the dark all day long to do farm work. The strong young people went to work in the fields, and the women and children who stayed at home tidied up the vegetable garden in front of their house and prepared to plant vegetables.
They were busy every day. It was already very late when they got home, and they had to take the cow to the creek on the west side of the village to let it drink water. They were tired and hungry, but they didn't feel any pain. As long as they saw the seedlings moistened by the rain, they felt very happy.
But even if they are busy all day long, there is no overnight food at home, and the labor is endless. Looking at this, I remembered that I was not engaged in farming, but Feng Lu came from the countryside, and I felt deeply ashamed.