The possibility of understanding certain parts of the Yh-King, such as the ethnological chapters and the legendary ballads, led early to the conclusion, that the whole of these documents could be currently read and interpreted. It is quite possible that the hexagrams were attached to them merely as a system of numerical classification to keep them in proper order; but it is more likely that the antiquity of these obscure documents, and the tradition that they contained a treasure of ancient wisdom, first led to their use as fateful and prophetic sentences, in which some glimmer of meaning was detected or surmised, and that the hexagrams were then applied to them for the purposes of divination.

The name of the author of the preceding poem was Abubakr (Ibn Abdurrahman Ibn Almiswar Ibn Makhramat) of Medina, a poet of the family of the Kūraish. He had married Saliha, the daughter of Abu Ubaidah, to whom he was tenderly attached. On one occasion, when on his way to Syria, he was so overcome by his affection for his wife, and by his longings to rejoin her, that he struck his camels on the head, turned them round, and went back to Medina. On this occasion he composed the preceding verses. When his wife heard his verses, and saw that for her sake he had returned to Medina, she was naturally much gratified. She said that of all the objects of her regard he was most dear to her, and that in future she should withhold nothing from him. She also made over to him her private property, with which she had not previously allowed him to interfere.