Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 27.djvu/488

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454
THE LÎ KÎ.
BK. X.

themselves. Unless for reverent attention to something[1], they should not presume to unbare their shoulders or chest. Unless it be in wading, they should not hold up their clothes. Of their private dress and coverlet, they should not display the inside. They should not allow the spittle or snivel of their parents to be seen[2]. They should ask leave to rinse away any dirt on their caps or girdles, and to wash their clothes that are dirty with lye that has been prepared for the purpose; and to stitch together, with needle and thread, any rent.

Every five days they should prepare tepid water, and ask them to Jake a bath, and every three days prepare water for them to wash their heads. If in the meantime their faces appear dirty, they should heat the water in which the rice has been cleaned, and ask them to wash with it; if their feet be dirty, they should prepare hot water, and ask them to wash them with it. Elders in serving their youngers, and the low in serving the noble, should all observe these rules.

12. The men should not speak of what belongs to the inside (of the house), nor the women of what belongs to the outside. Except at sacrifices and funeral rites, they should not hand vessels to one another. In all other cases when they have occasion to give and receive anything, the woman should receive it in a basket. If she have no basket, they

should both sit down, and the other put the thing on


  1. As for archery. The meaning is, I suppose, that none of the things mentioned should be seen or known, while they are waiting on their parents.
  2. But instantly wipe it off, according to Khǎn Hâo.