Fu - truth

Fu, from captives to blessing to inspiring confidence.

Captive, truth, sincerity, inspire confidence.

The tag of hexagram 61 is Zhong Fu, inner truth. The character fu appeares 42 times in the Zhou Yi.

Originally it meant captive. It is a picture of a child and a claw: grasping a (small) person.

When the troops returned home, they had to show their conquests. They did it by showing the captives or the number of killed enemies.

Hauling along corpses for a long journey home is not a good idea, so they only brought the ears.
The number of people is still sometimes counted in ears. Six ears: three people.

The captives and ears brought home were proof that they told the truth. So the character started to mean truth, sincerity, inspire confidence.

In hexagram 55 line 2 it says: "To proceed brings doubt and anxiety. With confidence Fa gathers." (Fa is the personal name of Wu, king Wen's son). Wu 'has the power to inspire confidence'.

Think of any 'captivating' speech from a (good or bad) leader.
Wu "grabs" his people and the allies that the eclipse is not a bad sign, on the contrary. It is an omen of the fall of an empire - the Shang of course...

sincerity
Fu Bao

The two characters fu and bao come probably from the same original character. On oracle bones only bao is used, with the meaning "support of the spirits, things will go as planned, or support of allies". See the article of Harmen Mesker

You bao (there is bao): you have support of the spirits and things will go as planned.
This adds another meaning to hexagram 61. It explains the pigs and fishes: animals of good luck.

See also in the omen terms (page 'good and bad') about: has truth