Kuei Mei / The Marrying Maiden
above:Ch^en The Arousing, Thunder
below:Tui The Joyous, Lake
Six in the fifth place means:
The sovereign I gave his daughter in marriage.
The embroidered garments of the princess
Were not as gorgeous
As those of the serving maid.
The moon that is nearly full
Brings good fortune.
The sovereign I is T'ang the Completer. This ruler decreed that the
imperial princesses should be subordinated to their husbands in the
same manner as other women (cf. Hexagram 11,
six in the fifth place). The emperor does not wait for a suitor to woo
his daughter but gives her in marriage when he sees fit. Therefore it
is in accord with custom for the girl's family to take the initiative
here.
We see here a girl of aristocratic birth who marries a man of modest
circumstances and understands how to adapt herself with grace to the
new situation. She is free of all vanity of outer adornment, and
forgetting her rank in her marriage, takes a place below that of her
husband, just as the moon, before it is quite full, does not directly
face the sun.