An Ode to Locust Trees by CAO Pi, CAO Zhi and WANG Can as a Song of Praise for CAO Cao

As early as in ancient times, people compared the three locust trees to the three dukes. The trees implied that people came here to consult with you. Further, they corresponded to the star which was in charge of agricultural affairs. And the locust tree was the spirit of this star which would bless and protect the yearly harvest. CAO Cao was in the status of three dukes and cast his kindness all over the country and in accordance with the cultural connotation of those who were brought here from far-away places by his broad mind. In March of the21th year of Jian’an, he plowed the field of his birthplace and this had some intrinsic connection with the star of locust tree which was in charge of farming affairs. Under his great effort, the North- ern China was in prosperous unification and this agreed with the merits and virtues of his status. All these correspond with the lines in CAO Pi’s An Ode to Locust Trees“Sunny and mild it could be, to stability under the rule indifference leads”, words in CAO Zhi’s prose with the same title“Shade it stretches to cover all, as if the future favor it casts”, and the sentences in WANG Can’s counterpart“At a perching place a bird stops its wings, to a shelter a person look forward to cling”. And these can be seen as the political praise songs for CAO Cao by brothers CAO and WANG Can.