The Marrying Maiden
The Younger Sister
Affection that ran ahead of form: devotion given freely, in a tie that confers no standing.
Dui, the Joyous, Lake, stands below Zhen, the Arousing, Thunder, the youngest daughter beneath the eldest son: he moves and she follows in joy. The classical reading is of a girl who attaches herself to a man of her own accord and so enters his house as a secondary wife rather than as principal, the exact reverse of the correct courtship in the preceding hexagram. The Judgement is among the bleakest in the book, holding that undertakings bring misfortune and that nothing would further, while the Image has the superior man understand the transitory in the light of the eternity of the end.
Light
Devotion given freely where form supplies no support. The fifth line honours the sovereign Yi's daughter, whose sleeves were plainer than her maid's, for modesty kept in a high place.
Shadow
A tie entered irregularly confers no standing, and undertakings begun from it bring misfortune. The last line holds up an empty basket and a sheep that yields no blood, a rite without substance.
