I have published this essay separately because it will, I think, be of interest chie?y to students of Shamanism and similar aspects of religion. If printed in a sinological journal or in a volume of miscellaneous studies it would be likely to escape the notice of most of the readers for whom it is intended. But the Nine Songs are also well worth reading simply as poetry, and I have tried, within the limits of a literal translation, to make them sing as well as merely say. I am deeply grateful to two friends, A. R. Davis Of Cam bridge and David Hawkes of Oxford, who have read this essay and made many useful suggestions. They must not of course be held in any way responsible for the views that I express.