The new corn crop is still not yet ripe,

But the old stock of grain is exhausted.

Coming over to borrow a peck of rice,

I stand outside the lofty gates of estate,

Shifting from one foot to the other, I wait.

And tell me to ask his wife for that;

Then his wife comes out and sends me

To firstly ask her husband, . . no kidding.

Being greedy and stingy, you won't help

All the needy, but if you forget the truth

That the nearest neighbours are dearer

Than the remote relatives, you chop off

The limb of the tree on which you sit, sir.

Truly, the more such people have gotten

The more their folly piles up thru the roof.