This title also appears in Lixing Yuanya (1618), but this uses standard tuning and has a different melody. The variants can be seen as evidence that the piece was indeed played during this period.

The SQMP third edition and the nearly identical version in Fengxuan Xuanpin (1539) both add punctuation. Xilutang Qintong, which calls it Jin Wei, ⁴ with Huo Lin as an alternate title, is slightly different, and calls the mode nanlü. The number of characters in lyrics for the Chongxiu Zhenchuan Qinpu version allows them to be paired to the tablature for SQMP.⁵

Zhu Changwen's Qin History doesn't mention this story in its biography of Confucius.⁶ The basic story is mentioned in a variety of sources, such as Zuo Zhuan and Chun Qiu, but none of them is as complete as the version here.

Lord Chu Shang originally thinks the animal is unlucky because the appearance of strange animals was generally considered unlucky. However, in Chinese society unicorns are generally considered good luck, so when he finds out it is a unicorn he has it brought home; presumably he does not accept Confucius' opinion that the fact that the unicorn was wounded makes this an unlucky omen. In fact it is not clear from the story whether the unicorn appeared wounded to show the times were unlucky, or the times were unlucky and so the unicorn was wounded.

The earliest version of the story occurs near the end of Zuo Zhuan, a history attributed to Confucius himself. Confucius had recently been rejected in his efforts to gain employment in the six countries he visited (the theme of #32 Yi Lan is related to this). Now with this new evidence that the times were bad, he is said to have stopped writing the history (the book continues for 12 more years, but with little information).

Hunts such as the one described in this story were part of the training for the ruler's army, and would have involved a large number of people. A commentary to the Zuo Zhuan version says that Daye, where the hunt took place, was a marshland in northeast Juye⁷ county of the Gaoping region of Shandong province. They think they have captured a jun,⁸ defined in the dictionary as a hornless deer.

Besides my own, the only other CD recording available is by Guan Pinghu. In the 1950s Guan reconstructed the very similar version from Xilutang Qintong (1549).⁹ My reconstruction was originally based on Guan's. At that time his was published only in transcription form, but it is now also available on CD.

 
Original preface:¹⁰

The Emaciated Immortal says

Qin History¹¹ states,

 
Music
Six sections:¹³ on the Capture of a Unicorn.

(00.00) 1. Distressed because of the time (being wrong for a unicorn to arrive)
(00.56) 2. Hunting in the west
(01.16) 3. Capture of the unicorn
(01.50) 4. A long sigh
(02.47) 5. Deep resentment (at not being appreciated)
(03.24) 6. Stop writing (history)
(04.24) -- Piece ends

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Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1. Huo Lin references
21232.25 獲麟 Huo Lin; quotes a variety of sources (not Shi Ji), none as complete as here. 麟Lin is short for 麒麟 qilin; the qi some sometimes said to be male, lin femaile. Giles' biographical dictionary says the qilin is "variously identified with the unicorn and giraffe."
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2. 慢宮調 Man Gong Mode and Tuning
Man gong tuning ( 3 5 6 1 2 3 5 ) is achieved by slackening the 1st, 3rd and 6th strings one half tone each from standard tuning, giving. Elsewhere this tuning is also called 南呂 Nanlü, 夷則 Yize, and 太簇 taicu.

Melodies that use this tuning include:

1. Huo Lin (see above)
2. 夷則意 Yize Yi, a prelude for
3. 處泰吟 Chutai Yin
4. 遠遊 Yuan You
5. 清靜經 Qing Jing Jing, a Daoist hymn, and
6. 挾仙遊 Xie Xian You.

For much of the melody Huo Lin, the main tonal center is 6 (la), with the secondary tonal center being 3 (mi). However, the main tonal center sometimes changes to 1 (do), and the melody ends on do. Man Gong is the only mode in SQMP that does not include a modal prelude (diaoyi or kaizhi).

Xilutang Qintong (1549) calls Huo Lin by another name, 謹微 Jin Wei, and prefaces it with a diao yi, called 南呂意 Nanlü Yi. It gives incorrect instructions on the tuning (it does not mention slackening the third string), but the tuning is clearly the same as here. In Xilutang Qintong the tuning is also the same for 夷則調 Yize mode; Yize Prelude, Chutai Yin and Yuan You are listed above. At the beginning of the Yi Ze mode section, in addition to giving the tuning method, the handbook says that the tuning is commonly called Man Gong, and that both Nan Lü and Man Gong have the fourth string as gong (do). These three yi ze mode melodies survive only in Xilutang Qintong. The tonal center again is do, with so as the secondary center. La and mi are again important, but perhaps not as much so as with Huo Lin. However, in the Yi Ze mode melody Qingjing Jing la and mi are the most important tonal centers.

Xilutang Qintong describes the same tuning for 泉鳴調 Quanming mode, but this is incorrect: for this tuning you must lower the 1st string a whole tone instead of a half tone. It includes three melodies, 鳴鳳吟 Mingfeng Yin, 鳳翔千仞 Feng Xiang Qian Ren and 孤竹君 Guzhu Jun. These three also survive only in Xilutang Qintong.

For more on modes see Modality in Early Ming Qin Tablature.
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3. Tracing Huo Lin
See Zha Fuxi's Guide 3/32/38 and the Appendix below. Note that the 1589/1609 listing seems to be a mistake, and the 1618 version seems to be musically unrelated.
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4. Jin Wei 謹微
Tong Kin-Woon says jinwei (謹微; 36717.xxx) is short for jinxiao zhenwei 僅小慎微 (36717.xxx, but see .73), meaning " be careful". See the end of the explanation in Xilutang Qintong, which says Confucius wrote the story as a warning.
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5. Pairing the lyrics
Lyrics were paired by a quite strict formula of one character for each dian, apparently defined as any right hand and certain left hand strokes. The number of characters in the lyrics of the 1585 version matches quite well the number of characters the present Huo Lin needs in each section. However, the phrasing of the lyrics seems to have no correspondence with the phrasing of the music. For more on this see the examples of <1491.
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6. See Qin Shi Folio I, #11.
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7. Gaoping Juye Xian 高平鉅野縣. 46302 has no Gaoping; 41166.18 says Juye is in the north part of modern Juye county, Shandong province.
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8. 48618 jun 鹿 + 君 says this is the same as jun 麇, cf. 48592, which has a picture of a hornless deer, but confusing explanations. The translation "muntjac" comes from Mathews. See also muntjac, etc.
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9. See the staff notation in Guqin Quji, p.25. The introduction (p.5) says of the modality, "the qin tune uses yu mode as a basis, with alternate appearances of zhi mode and gong mode. It weaves harmonics and open strings sounds together into a tune. In many places it uses doubled intervals, such as octaves, fifths, thirds and unisons. Its form has a lot of (these?) special points."
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10. 琴史 Qin Shi: book name, or just the history of qin? Zhu Quan's sources are problematic. It is not from Zhu Changwen's Qin History.
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11. For the original Chinese text see 獲麟.
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12. 操 cao in ancient contexts could mean "lament".
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13. For the original Chinese section titles see 獲麟.
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Appendix: Chart Tracing Huo Lin
Based mainly on Zha Fuxi's Guide, 3/32/38

琴譜     (year; QQJC Vol/page)	Further information (QQJC = 琴曲集成 Qinqu Jicheng; QF = 琴府 Qin Fu)
1.  神奇秘譜       (1425; I/115)	6T; 2nd edition adds some phrasing
.  浙音釋字琴譜       (<1491; I/--)	Not in this edition, but lyrics of 1585 fit 1425, so perhaps it was originally included
2. 風宣玄品       (1539; II/99)	6T; virtually same as #1
3. 西麓堂琴統       (1549; III/228)	10T; "Jin Wei (謹微; Respectful and polite), also called Huo Lin"; preceded by 南呂意 Nanlü Yi; almost same as 1425, but adds phrase in harmonics at end which doesn't seem to fit mode; Guan Pinghu transcription omits these harmonics
4. 重修真傳琴譜       (1585; IV/346)	6T; lyrics; related; see <1491
5. 玉梧琴譜       (1589; VI/85)	7; called 獲麟操 Huolin Cao; 8; preceded by Shenpin Mangong Yi; starts the same, but then very different
. 琴書大全       (1590; V)	No tablature, but commentary on p.237 says another title for this is 泣獲麟 Qi Huolin (Weep for the Captured Unicorn)
6. 藏春塢琴譜       (1602; VI/429)	7; identical to 1589 above; also preceded by Shenpin Mangong Yi
. 真傳正宗琴譜       (1589; VII/???)	Zha Guide lists it and says "called 獲麟操 Huolin Cao" and "楊倫伯牙心法" but this seems to be a mistake (see Guide p. [總105] 63ff)
. 理性元雅       (1618; VIII/310)	3; jiao mode; called 獲麟解 Huolin Jie; unrelated to above
7. 古音正宗       (1634; IX/368)	6, titled; starts very similar to #1, then more variation at end; adds coda at end in harmonics
8. 琴苑新傳全編       (1670; XI/407)	6, titled; virtually same as #1

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