{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_74897/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_74897","id":"gutenberg_74897","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/74897","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Fables, Chinese","Folklore -- China","Tales -- China"],"text":"CHINESE FABLES\n                                  AND\n                              FOLK STORIES\n\n                                   BY\n                            MARY HAYES DAVIS\n                                  AND\n                               CHOW-LEUNG\n\n            WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY YIN-CHWANG WANG TSEN-ZAN\n\n\n                    NEW YORK \u2058 CINCINNATI \u2058 CHICAGO\n                         AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n                                   TO\n                               MY FRIEND\n                          MARY F. NIXON-ROULET\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\n\nIt requires much study of the Oriental mind to catch even brief\nglimpses of the secret of its mysterious charm. An open mind and the\nwisdom of great sympathy are conditions essential to making it at all\npossible.\n\nContemplative, gentle, and metaphysical in their habit of thought, the\nChinese have reflected profoundly and worked out many riddles of the\nuniverse in ways peculiarly their own. Realization of the value and\nneed to us of a more definite knowledge of the mental processes of our\nOriental brothers, increases wonderfully as one begins to comprehend\nthe richness, depth, and beauty of their thought, ripened as it is by\nthe hidden processes of evolution throughout the ages.\n\nTo obtain literal translations from the mental store-house of the\nChinese has not been found easy of accomplishment; but it is a more\ndifficult, and a most elusive task to attempt to translate their\nfancies, to see life itself as it appears from the Chinese point of\nview, and to retell these impressions without losing quite all of their\ncolor and charm.\n\nThe \u201cimpressions,\u201d the \u201cairy shapes\u201d formed by the Oriental\nimagination, the life touches and secret graces of its fancy are at\nonce the joy and despair of the one who attempts to record them.\n\nIn retelling these Chinese stories of home and school life, the writer\nhas been greatly aided by the Rev. Chow Leung, whose evident desire to\nserve his native land and have the lives of his people reflected truly,\nhas made him an invaluable collaborator. With the patient courtesy\ncharacteristic of the Chinese, he has given much time to explaining\nobscure points and answering questions innumerable.\n\nIt has been an accepted belief of the world\u2019s best scholars that\nChinese literature did not possess the fable, and chapters in\ninteresting books have been written on this subject affirming its\nabsence. Nevertheless, while studying the people, language, and\nliterature of China it was the great pleasure of the writer to discover\nthat the Chinese have many fables, a few of which are published in this\nbook.\n\nAs these stories, familiar in the home and school life of the children\nof China, show different phases of the character of a people in the\nvery processes of formation, it is earnestly hoped that this English\npresentation of them will help a little toward a better understanding\nand appreciation of Chinese character as a whole.\n\n\n    MARY HAYES DAVIS.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\n\nTo begin with, let me say that this is the first book of Chinese\nstories ever printed in English that will bring the Western people to\nthe knowledge of some of our fables, which have never been heretofore\nknown to the world. In this introduction, however, I shall only mention\na few facts as to why the Chinese fables, before this book was\nproduced, were never found in any of the European languages.\n\nFirst of all, our fables were written here and there in the advanced\nliterature, in the historical books, and in the poems, which are not\nall read by every literary man except the widely and deeply educated\nliterati.\n\nSecondly, all the Chinese books, except those which were provided by\nmissionaries for religious purposes, are in our book language, which is\nby no means alike to our spoken language. For this reason, I shall be\nexcused to say that it is impossible for any foreigner in China to find\nthe Chinese fables. In fact, there has never been a foreigner in our\ncountry who was able to write or to read our advanced books with a\nthorough understanding. A few of our foreign friends can read some of\nour easy literature, such as newspapers, but even that sort of\nliterature they are unable to write without the assistance of their\nnative teachers. These are facts which have not, as yet, become known\nto the Western people who know not the peculiarity of our language\u2014its\ndifficulty.\n\nThis book of fables is not of course intended to give a full idea of\nthe Chinese literature, but it shows the thinking reader a bird\u2019s-eye\nview of the Chinese thought in this form of literature. Furthermore, so\nfar as I know, this book being the first of its kind, will tell the\nworld of the new discovery of the Chinese fables.\n\n\n    YIN-CHWANG WANG TSEN-ZAN.                     \u7ae0\u97de\u5584\u589e\u738b\n                                                  \u9ad8\u52a0\u58eb\u62e6\u5e8f\n    The University of Chicago,                       \u6821\u5b78\u5927\n    Chicago, Ill., U. S. A.\n\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n                                                                 PAGE\nHow the Moon became Beautiful                  \u6708\u4f55\u4ee5\u7f8e              13\nThe Animals\u2019 Peace Party                       \u7fa3\u7378\u8b70\u548c              17\nThe Widow and her Son                          \u80fd\u5b5d\u80fd\u5f1f              22\nThe Evergreen Tree and the Wilderness Marigold \u91d1\u76de\u82b1\u4e0d\u5982\u6c38\u7de3\u6a39          27\nThe Snail and the Bees                         \u8702\u8778\u4e4b\u722d              31\nThe Proud Chicken                              \u50b2\u96de                37\nThe Lemon Tree and the Pumelo                  \u6ab8\u6aac\u8207\u9178\u6885             42\nWoo Sing and the Mirror                        \u501f\u93e1\u8a13\u5b50              46\nTwo Mothers and a Child                        \u4e8c\u6bcd\u4e00\u5b69              48\nA Boy Who Would Not Tell a Lie                 \u7ae5\u4e0d\u8aaa\u8b0a              55\nA Great Repentance and a Great Forgiveness     \u6094\u6055\u4e26\u884c              60\nThe Man who loved Money better than Life       \u611b\u8ca1\u52dd\u65bc\u611b\u547d            66\nThe Hen and the Chinese Mountain Turtle        \u96de\u9f9e\u4e4b\u722d              68\nThe Boy of Perfect Disposition                 \u5b8c\u5168\u4e4b\u6027\u683c             74\nWhat the Yen Tzi taught the Hunter             \u7375\u4eba\u53d7\u654e\u65bc\u9ce5            79\nA Lesson from Confucius                        \u5b54\u5b50\u4e4b\u654e\u8aa8             83\nThe Wind, the Clouds, and the Snow             \u98a8\u96f2\u96ea               86\nThe Fish and the Flowers                       \u9b5a\u82b1\u7570\u5473              95\nThe Hen, the Cat, and the Bird                 \u96de\u732b\u9ce5               98\nThe Boy who wanted the Impossible              \u6b32\u6240\u4e0d\u80fd\u6b32\u8005           103\nThe Boy who became a Hsao-tsze                 \u738b\u5b5d\u5b50              110\nThe Hunter, the Snipe, and the Bivalve         \u7375\u8005\u7368\u5f97             118\nThe Mule and the Lion                          \u9a3e\u7345\u8a2a\u732a             124\nThe Fa-Nien-Ts\u2019ing and the M\u00f6n-Tien-Sing       \u6eff\u5929\u661f\u4e0d\u5982\u842c\u5e74\u9751         128\nThe Body that deserted the Stomach             \u8eab\u4e0d\u9858\u990a\u80c3            136\nThe Proud Fox and the Crab                     \u50b2\u72d0\u8fb1\u87f9             141\nA Little Chinese Rose                          \u5c0f\u6885\u5973              144\nThe Eagle and the Rice Birds                   \u7269\u5fc5\u6b78\u539f             147\nThe Children and the Dog                       \u5b69\u7ae5\u8207\u72ac             155\nThe Two Mountains                              \u5169\u5927\u5c71              159\nA Chinese Prodigal Son                         \u6d6a\u5b50\u6b78\u5bb6             167\nThe Lion and the Mosquitoes                    \u7345\u53d7\u868a\u6575             176\nThe Thief and the Elephant                     \u4ee5\u8c61\u554f\u6848             181\nThe General, the Bird, and the Ant             \u5c07\u8ecd\u8cf4\u87fb             185\nThree Girls who went to a Boys\u2019 School         \u540d\u7b26\u5176\u884c             191\nThe Rattan Vine and the Rose Tree              \u8513\u8396\u8207\u6885\u6a39            198\nThe Melon and the Professor                    \u5b78\u7531\u74dc\u5f97             203\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nHOW THE MOON BECAME BEAUTIFUL\n\n\u6708\u4f55\u4ee5\u7f8e\n\n\nThe Moon is very beautiful with his round, bright face which shines\nwith soft and gentle light on all the world of man. But once there was\na time when he was not so beautiful as he is now. Six thousand years\nago the face of the Moon became changed in a single night. Before that\ntime his face had been so dark and gloomy that no one liked to look at\nhim, and for this reason he was always very sad.\n\nOne day he complained to the flowers and to the stars\u2014for they were the\nonly things that would ever look in his face.\n\nHe said, \u201cI do not like to be the Moon. I wish I were a star or a\nflower. If I were a star, even the smallest one, some great general\nwould care for me; but alas! I am only the Moon and no one likes me. If\nI could only be a flower and grow in a garden where the beautiful earth\nwomen come, they would place me in their hair and praise my fragrance\nand beauty. Or, if I could even grow in the wilderness where no one\ncould see, the birds would surely come and sing sweet songs for me. But\nI am only the Moon and no one honors me.\u201d\n\nThe stars answered and said, \u201cWe can not help you. We were born here\nand we can not leave our places. We never had any one to help us. We do\nour duty, we work all the day and twinkle in the dark night to make the\nskies more beautiful.\u2014But that is all we can do,\u201d they added, as they\nsmiled coldly at the sorrowful Moon.\n\nThen the flowers smiled sweetly and said, \u201cWe do not know how we can\nhelp you. We live always in one place\u2014in a garden near the most\nbeautiful maiden in all the world. As she is kind to every one in\ntrouble we will tell her about you. We love her very much and she loves\nus. Her name is Tseh-N\u2019io.\u201d\n\nStill the Moon was sad. So one evening he went to see the beautiful\nmaiden Tseh-N\u2019io. And when he saw her he loved her at once. He said,\n\u201cYour face is very beautiful. I wish that you would come to me, and\nthat my face would be as your face. Your motions are gentle and full of\ngrace. Come with me and we will be as one\u2014and perfect. I know that even\nthe worst people in all the world would have only to look at you and\nthey would love you. Tell me, how did you come to be so beautiful?\u201d\n\n\u201cI have always lived with those who were gentle and happy, and I\nbelieve that is the cause of beauty and goodness,\u201d answered Tseh-N\u2019io.\n\nAnd so the Moon went every night to see the maiden. He knocked on her\nwindow, and she came. And when he saw how gentle and beautiful she was,\nhis love grew stronger, and he wished more and more to be with her\nalways.\n\nOne day Tseh-N\u2019io said to her mother, \u201cI should like to go to the Moon\nand live always with him. Will you allow me to go?\u201d\n\nHer mother thought so little of the question that she made no reply,\nand Tseh-N\u2019io told her friends that she was going to be the Moon\u2019s\nbride.\n\nIn a few days she was gone. Her mother searched everywhere but could\nnot find her. And one of Tseh-N\u2019io\u2019s friends said,\u2014\u201cShe has gone with\nthe Moon, for he asked her many times.\u201d\n\nA year and a year passed by and Tseh-N\u2019io, the gentle and beautiful\nearth maiden, did not return. Then the people said, \u201cShe has gone\nforever. She is with the Moon.\u201d\n\n\n\nThe face of the Moon is very beautiful now. It is happy and bright and\ngives a soft, gentle light to all the world. And there are those who\nsay that the Moon is now like Tseh-N\u2019io, who was once the most\nbeautiful of all earth maidens.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE ANIMALS\u2019 PEACE PARTY\n\n\u7fa3\u7378\u8b70\u548c\n\n\nThe ancient books say that the pig is a very unclean animal and of no\ngreat use to the world or man, and one of them contains this story:\n\nOnce upon a time the horses and cattle gave a party. Although the pigs\nwere very greedy, the horses said, \u201cLet us invite them, and it may be\nwe can settle our quarrels in this way and become better friends. We\nwill call this a Peace Party.\n\n\u201cGenerations and generations of pigs have broken through our fence,\ntaken our food, drunk our water, and rooted up our clean green grass;\nbut it is also true that the cattle children have hurt many young pigs.\n\n\u201cAll this trouble and fighting is not right, and we know the Master\nwishes we should live at peace with one another. Do you not think it a\ngood plan to give a Peace Party and settle this trouble?\u201d\n\nThe cattle said, \u201cWho will be the leader of our party and do the\ninviting? We should have a leader, both gentle and kind, to go to the\npigs\u2019 home and invite them.\u201d\n\nThe next day a small and very gentle cow was sent to invite the pigs.\nAs she went across to the pigs\u2019 yard, all the young ones jumped up and\ngrunted, \u201cWhat are you coming here for? Do you want to fight?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, I do not want to fight,\u201d said the cow. \u201cI was sent here to invite\nyou to our party. I should like to know if you will come, so that I may\ntell our leader.\u201d\n\nThe young pigs and the old ones talked together and the old ones said,\n\u201cThe New Year feast will soon be here. Maybe they will have some good\nthings for us to eat at the party. I think we should go.\u201d\n\nThen the old pigs found the best talker in all the family, and sent\nword by him that they would attend the party.\n\nThe day came, and the pigs all went to the party. There were about\nthree hundred all together.\n\nWhen they arrived they saw that the leader of the cows was the most\nbeautiful of all the herd and very kind and gentle to her guests.\n\nAfter a while the leader spoke to them in a gentle voice and said to\nthe oldest pig, \u201cWe think it would be a good and pleasant thing if\nthere were no more quarrels in this pasture.\n\n\u201cWill you tell your people not to break down the fences and spoil the\nplace and eat our food? We will then agree that the oxen and horses\nshall not hurt your children and all the old troubles shall be\nforgotten from this day.\u201d\n\nThen one young pig stood up to talk. \u201cAll this big pasture belongs to\nthe Master, and not to you,\u201d he said. \u201cWe can not go to other places\nfor food.\n\n\u201cThe Master sends a servant to feed us, and sometimes he sends us to\nyour yard to eat the corn and potatoes.\n\n\u201cThe servants clean our pen every day. When summer comes, they fill the\nponds with fresh water for us to bathe in.\n\n\u201cNow, friends, can you not see that this place and this food all\nbelongs to the Master? We eat the food and go wherever we like. We take\nyour food only after you have finished. It would spoil on the ground if\nwe did not do this.\n\n\u201cAnswer this question\u2014Do our people ever hurt your people? No; even\nthough every year some of our children are killed by bad oxen and cows.\n\n\u201cWhat is your food? It is nothing; but our lives are worth much to us.\n\n\u201cOur Master never sends our people to work as he does the horses and\noxen. He sends us food and allows us to play a year and a year the\nsame, because he likes us best.\n\n\u201cYou see the horses and oxen are always at work. Some pull wagons,\nothers plow land for rice; and they must work\u2014sick or well.\n\n\u201cOur people never work. Every day at happy time we play; and do you see\nhow fat we are?\n\n\u201cYou never see our bones. Look at the old horses and the old oxen.\nTwenty years\u2019 work and no rest!\n\n\u201cI tell you the Master does not honor the horses and oxen as he does\nthe pigs.\n\n\u201cFriends, that is all I have to say. Have you any questions to ask? Is\nwhat I have said not the truth?\u201d\n\nThe old cow said, \u201cMoo, Moo,\u201d and shook her head sadly. The tired old\nhorses groaned, \u201cHuh, Huh,\u201d and never spoke a word.\n\nThe leader said, \u201cMy friends, it is best not to worry about things we\ncan not know. We do not seem to understand our Master.\n\n\u201cIt will soon be time for the New Year feast day; so, good night. And\nmay the pig people live in the world as long and happily as the horses\nand the oxen, although our Peace Party did not succeed.\u201d\n\nOn their way home the little pigs made a big noise, and every one said,\n\u201cWe, we! We win, we win!\u201d\n\nThen the old horses and oxen talked among themselves. \u201cWe are stronger,\nwiser, and more useful than the pigs,\u201d they said. \u201cWhy does the Master\ntreat us so?\u201d\n\n\n\nEe-Sze (Meaning): Why have some more power than others? Only one knows.\nWhy have some longer life than others? Only one knows. Why do some try\nand not succeed; while others do not try and yet they do succeed? Only\none knows.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE WIDOW AND HER SON [1]\n\nA STORY OF THE FAMINE IN SHANG-TONG PROVINCE\n\n\u80fd\u5b5d\u80fd\u5f1f\n\n\nA widow had two sons, Yao-Pao, a lad yet in school, and Yao-Moi who\ntilled the soil.\n\nYao-Moi, the elder, was a good man; he had worked hard for thirty\nyears, but he had not gained riches. He sent Yao-Pao to school and\nserved his mother well.\n\nOne year there were great rains. The grain all died in the ground and\nthe people of that country had nothing to eat. Yao-Moi had debts which\nhe could not pay, and when his harvest failed he became poorer than\never before.\n\nThen there came a great famine and twenty thousand people died in that\nland. Yao-Moi killed his oxen to keep his mother and brother from\nstarving. Last of all he killed the horses and mules, for it was yet\nsix months before the time of harvest. Each time when he would kill for\nmeat, the neighbors would come and beg food, and because he was sorry\nfor them, he could not refuse.\n\nOne widow came many times until she was ashamed to beg longer from the\nlittle that he had. Finally she brought a girl child to him and said,\n\u201cWe are again starving. I will give you this girl for some meat. She is\nstrong and can serve your mother,\u201d But Yao-Moi said, \u201cNo, I will give\nyou the meat. I can not take your girl from you.\u201d\n\nSo he gave her meat once more, and she took the meat home to her son.\nBut when it was gone and they were weak and fierce again with the death\nhunger, the widow said, \u201cWe shall all die, unless one dies to save the\nothers. My son can not longer walk. I will kill the girl child and save\nhis life. He can then eat.\u201d Her son said, \u201cNo, do not kill the girl,\ntrade her to Yao-Moi for meat.\u201d And the mother said, \u201cYao-Moi will soon\nstarve, too, and then he will kill her. It is better that I do it;\u201d and\nshe took the big sharp knife to make it sharper.\n\nShe laid the girl child down on a bench and prepared to kill; but\nYao-Moi passed by the house just then, and hearing the moans and\nscreams he stopped to ask the reason. And the widow said, \u201cWe are\nstarving. We will have a funeral to-day. We will now kill and eat each\nother that the last one may live until the time of the harvest.\u201d But\nYao-Moi said, \u201cOh, no, do not kill the girl, I will take her home with\nme, and you can have meat in exchange for her;\u201d and he took her to his\nhome and gave the widow many pounds of meat for herself and her dying\nson.\n\nFour months passed by. Yao-Moi had nothing in his own house to eat, and\nthey were all starving\u2014Yao-Moi, his mother, his little brother, and the\ngirl.\n\nWhen the death hunger came, and the mother saw that her sons must die,\nshe said, \u201cI will kill the girl.\u201d But Yao-Moi said, \u201cNo, I think we\nshall not die. Let us sleep to-night and see. I think something surely\nwill come. Better kill me than the girl child.\u201d\n\nSo they went to bed that night. It was winter and the house was cold\nand dark. There was no wood, no light, no food; and they were starving.\n\nNow, as the house grew more cold and dark, there came to them the quiet\nof a great despair and they all slept.\n\nAnd Yao-Moi had a dream, and he saw an old man in flowing white\ngarments, with a belt of gold around his waist. His hair was long and\nwhite, and his face was gentle and kind. And he called, \u201cYao-Moi!\nYao-Moi! Yao-Moi! Hearken unto my words. Do you know how many people\nare dead in this land?\u201d\n\nYao-Moi answered, \u201cNo, but I do know they are many, for only three\namong a hundred of all that were are now left.\u201d\n\nAnd the old man said, \u201cIn every house but yours some have died, but\nthose of your household are all alive: you have also saved the girl\nchild. I know you are a good man. You have plowed the soil for thirty\nyears, and have never complained about the heaven or the earth. The\nthunder and waters come, the winds blow and the earth quakes, and still\nyou are patient and kind. You are good to your mother. You support your\nbrother, send him to school, and are as a father to him. You have a\nkind heart for your neighbors\u2019 troubles. You live a good life and,\nbecause of this, you shall not starve. To-morrow morning you must arise\nearly and go to the East Mountain by the wilderness. There you will\nfind many meats and nuts and seeds. Bring them home to your family. I\nam a spirit sent from the Greatest One to earth.\u201d\n\nAfter saying these things the man went out and Yao-Moi arose with great\njoy and told his family. Then he went to the East Mountain by the\nwilderness, where he found corn and peanuts and the meat of two hundred\nfoxes already prepared to eat.\n\nAnd he was very glad, and brought home much food and saved many lives.\n\n\n\nEe-Sze (Meaning): If people do good they will have reward.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE EVERGREEN TREE AND THE WILDERNESS MARIGOLD\n\n\u91d1\u76de\u82b1\u4e0d\u5982\u6c38\u7de3\u6a39\n\n\nWhen the springtime comes in China, the marigold (long-life flower)\ngrows everywhere\u2014on the mountains, in the fields, and by the river\nside.\n\nThe marigold is very proud of its great family which is so numerous\nthat the earth seems hardly large enough for it.\n\nOnce there was a marigold family that lived beneath an evergreen tree.\nThey grew together all summer long, side by side, arms interwoven with\narms, and leaves mingling with leaves.\n\nEvery year the tree grew larger, until at last no more sunshine or rain\ncould come through its thick leaves and branches.\n\nOne day the marigold said to the evergreen tree, \u201cWhom does this\nmountain belong to? You are only one, while our family grow in\nthousands everywhere. We have beautiful flowers from the summer time\nuntil the autumn comes. These flowers bear seeds that live through the\nwinter, and in the spring another generation appears. In the summer\ntime people come many miles to this mountain to see us.\n\n\u201cThese people take our flowers home. Some of us they put in baskets and\ncall basket flowers. Some they put in the maidens\u2019 hair and they call\nus maiden flowers. School boys like us on their tables and the pupils\nsay we are their flowers. Old people gather us for their birthdays and\nwe are called long-life flowers, and when maidens are married, our\nflowers are placed in a dish and they worship the Flower God, and call\nus the pure flower.\n\n\u201cSo you see how pretty the names are that have been given us and how\nmany people need us for their happiness.\n\n\u201cWe must bring more and more flowers into the world, for there are not\nenough even yet.\n\n\u201cBut we that live under your shade are not happy. You take away the sun\nso that he never shines on us, and when the rain comes, not a drop can\nreach our throats. The breeze comes, but never into our house\u2014no fresh\nair, no sunshine, no rain, until we fear that we shall die.\n\n\u201cFor eighty years our family has lived here. Our children sometimes\nsay, \u2018We hope that next year we may have sunshine,\u2019 or \u2018We hope that we\nmay soon have rain to drink.\u2019 Still no sunshine and no rain can reach\nus.\n\n\u201cYou have destroyed many of our people. When will you allow us to have\nsun, rain, and air? Do you not know that you are killing us?\u201d\n\nThen the evergreen tree said, \u201cMy dear friend, I can not prevent this.\nYour people are more easily moved than I am. We are three brothers who\nhave lived here hundreds of years and we are here forever. If our great\nbodies were moved we should die. It is you who should go away from\nhere. Your seeds are light and it would be easy for them to go.\n\n\u201cWhen summer comes the children need us here. When the sun is hot the\nboys and girls sit under our shade, and even though we may kill some of\nyour family, yet must we serve mankind. Do you not know that the\nchildren hang swings, and that women hang their babies\u2019 beds in our\narms? The children also play ride-the-horse, and climb up in our arms,\nand have many games in our shade.\n\n\u201cAlthough we serve them and make them happy, yet they are not always\nkind to us, for sometimes they cut our bark. Students write words in my\nbody with a sharp knife, but I can not prevent it. I have cried many\nyears about this one thing and I would like to go away from here\u2014but\nhow can I move?\n\n\u201cI do not wish to hurt you, dear friend, any more than I wish to be\nhurt by others; but I am a mountain evergreen and must stand here\nforever. I hope you will be able to go, for we do not want to quarrel.\u201d\n\nThe marigold bowed her head and made no reply. And a deep silence came\nover the evergreen tree as he grew and grew, a year and a hundred\nyears, and many, many more.\n\n\n\nEe-Sze (Meaning): The weak can not live with the strong. The poor can\nnot stay with the rich. Only equals are happy together.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE SNAIL AND THE BEES\n\nTHE MOD [2] AND THE FON\n\n\u8702\u8778\u4e4b\u722d\n\n\nOne day the king of the bees with his followers passed by the snail\u2019s\ndoor with a great noise. The mother snail said, \u201cI have sixteen babies\nasleep on a leaf, and they must sleep fifteen days before they can\nwalk. You will surely wake them. You are the noisiest creatures that\npass my door. How can my children sleep? Yesterday your family and a\ncrowd of your silly followers were here and made a great noise, and now\nto-day you come again. If I lose one baby because of all this, I will\ngo to your house and destroy it. Then you will have no place to live.\nDo you know that this tree belongs to me? My master planted it twenty\nyears ago, that I and my children might feed on its fruit. Every year\nyour people come here when my tree has flowers upon it and take the\nhoney away from them; and you not only rob me, but while you are doing\nit, you make loud and foolish noises. If you do not go away, I will\ncall my master and my people.\u201d\n\nThe king bee answered, \u201cYou have no master in the world. You came from\nthe dirt. Your ancestors all died in the wilderness and nobody even\ncared, because you are of no use to the world. Our name is Fon (Bee).\nPeople like us and they grow fat from our honey, which is better than\nmedicine. My people live in all parts of the world. All mankind likes\nus and feeds us flowers. Do you think you are better than man?\n\n\u201cOne day a bad boy tried to spoil our house, but his mother said, \u2018You\nspoil many things, but you shall not trouble the bees. They work hard\nevery day and make honey for us. If you kill one bee-mother, her\nchildren will all leave us and in winter we shall have no honey for our\nbread.\u2019 And the boy obeyed. He might catch birds and goldfish, destroy\nflowers, do anything he wished, but he could not trouble us, because we\nare so useful. But you, slow creeper, are not good for anything.\u201d\n\nThen the snail was angry and went to her house and said to her family,\n\u201cThe bees are our enemies. In fifteen days, five of you must go to\ntheir house and destroy it.\u201d\n\nSo they went. But when they reached the bee\u2019s house, they found no one\nthere; and they said, \u201cWe are glad, for we can eat their honey.\u201d And\nthey ate honey until sunset. Then the bee king and all his people in\ngreat numbers came with joyous singing, drumming, and dancing to their\nhome.\n\nWhen the bee king saw the five snails in his house he said, \u201cFriends,\nthis is not your home nor your food. Why do you come here and eat all\nour honey? But it is late, and you are welcome to stay overnight with\nus, if you do not hurt our children.\u201d\n\nThe big snail only laughed and answered, \u201cThis is very good honey. I\nhave moved my family here. We will stay not only one night or two\nnights, but forever, and we will eat your honey for our food as long as\nit lasts.\u201d\n\nThe bee king said, \u201cI will allow you to stay only one night here. You\ncan not live in my house. You do no good thing to help. I am afraid\neven to let you stay one night. My honey may be all taken and the\nbabies killed while we sleep to-night.\u201d\n\nAnd he said to the wise old bees, \u201cDo not sleep. We can not trust\nthem.\u201d\n\nThe next morning the wise bees came and told the king, \u201cThirty-five\nbabies died last night. The snails crept all about our house and\npoisoned them. And they left much mouth-dirt in the honey so that we\nfear it will kill even man to eat it. We must drive them away, O king.\u201d\n\n\u201cOne day more and if they do not go, we will do some other thing,\u201d said\nthe bee king.\n\nThen he went to talk to the snails again and said, \u201cFriends, you are\nlooking fat; I know you are satisfied here and like my honey, but why\ndo you kill my people and why do you spoil our honey? I think I know\nwhy. I believe you are an enemy, for I remember now that I met a snail\nmother some time ago, who scolded me and my people. I believe you are\nher children.\n\n\u201cBe that as it may, I now tell you that if you snails do not leave my\nhouse before to-morrow at midday, you die here.\u201d\n\n\u201cDo what you will,\u201d said the snail, \u201cwe will stay. We are a free\npeople. We go where we will, we eat what we like, and just now we like\nhoney. We shall eat all the honey you have, if we wish it. At any rate,\nwe will stay now, for we would like to see what you can do that is so\ngreat.\u201d\n\nThen the bee king looked grave and called all his soldiers together,\nand told them to prepare for battle. The first order was, \u201cMake ready\nyour wax until midday!\u201d The second order was, \u201cSharpen your swords and\nbe ready!\u201d\n\nThe great army of thousands with sharpened stings was commanded to make\nthe noise of battle and sting to the death if need be.\n\nThe snails were frightened at the battle cries and drew into their\nshells. Then the king ordered the soldiers to bring wax quickly. And\nwhile thousands of bees kept the snails frightened by the great noise\nof battle, other soldiers filled the snails\u2019 mouths with the wax; and\nin two hours they were sealed so that they could not move nor breathe.\n\nThe bee king then said to the snails, \u201cAt first I thought you were\nfriends, and I offered you shelter for the night and all the honey you\ncould eat. But you thought the Creator made the earth for you alone and\nnothing for any one else. With such natures as yours, if you were as\nlarge and powerful as the birds or the beasts, there would be no room\nfor any other creature in all the world. Truly you spoke, when you said\nyou would stay, for now you die.\u201d\n\nThen the king moved all his people away to a new house and left the\nsnails to die.\n\nOne day when the master came to get honey and saw the empty house and\nthe five dead snails, he said, \u201cThis bee house, with all the honey, is\npoisoned. It must be cleansed.\u201d\n\nAnd the dead snails and the spoiled honey were sunk into the earth\ntogether, but the bees lived on and were happy and useful.\n\n\n\nEe-Sze (Meaning): The proud and selfish want everything, but deserve\nnothing.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE PROUD CHICKEN\n\n\u50b2\u96de\n\n\nA widow named Hong-Mo lived in a little house near the market place.\nEvery year she raised many hundreds of chickens, which she sold to\nsupport herself and her two children.\n\nEach day the chickens went to the fields near by and hunted bugs, rice,\nand green things to eat.\n\nThe largest one was called the king of the chickens because, of all the\nhundreds in the flock, he was the strongest. And for this reason he was\nthe leader of them all.\n\nHe led the flock to new places for food. He could crow the loudest, and\nas he was the strongest, none dared oppose him in any way.\n\nOne day he said to the flock, \u201cLet us go to the other side of the\nmountain near the wilderness to-day, and hunt rice, wheat, corn, and\nwild silkworms. There is not enough food here.\u201d\n\nBut the other chickens said, \u201cWe are afraid to go so far. There are\nfoxes and eagles in the wilderness, and they will catch us.\u201d\n\nThe king of the chickens said, \u201cIt is better that all the old hens and\ncowards stay at home.\u201d\n\nThe king\u2019s secretary said, \u201cI do not know fear. I will go with you.\u201d\nThen they started away together.\n\nWhen they had gone a little distance, the secretary found a beetle, and\njust as he was going to swallow it, the king flew at him in great\nanger, saying, \u201cBeetles are for kings, not for common chickens. Why did\nyou not give it to me?\u201d So they fought together, and while they were\nfighting, the beetle ran away and hid under the grass where he could\nnot be found.\n\nAnd the secretary said, \u201cI will not fight for you, neither will I go to\nthe wilderness with you.\u201d And he went home again.\n\nAt sunset the king came home. The other chickens had saved the best\nroosting place for him; but he was angry because none of them had been\nwilling to go to the wilderness with him, and he fought first with one\nand then with another.\n\nHe was a mighty warrior, and therefore none of them could stand up\nagainst him. And he pulled the feathers out of many of the flock.\n\nAt last the chickens said, \u201cWe will not serve this king any longer. We\nwill leave this place. If Hong-Mo will not give us another home, we\nwill stay in the vegetable garden. We will do that two or three nights,\nand see if she will not give us another place to live.\u201d\n\nSo the next day, when Hong-Mo waited at sunset for the chickens to come\nhome, the king was the only one who came.\n\nAnd she asked the king, \u201cWhere are all my chickens?\u201d\n\nBut he was proud and angry, and said, \u201cThey are of no use in the world.\nI would not care if they always stayed away.\u201d\n\nHong-Mo answered, \u201cYou are not the only chicken in the world. I want\nthe others to come back. If you drive them all away, you will surely\nsee trouble.\u201d\n\nBut the king laughed and jumped up on the fence and\ncrowed\u2014\u201cNga-Un-Gan-Yu-Na\u201d (coo-ka-doodle-doo-oo) in a loud voice. \u201cI\ndon\u2019t care for you! I don\u2019t care for you!\u201d\n\nHong-Mo went out and called the chickens, and she hunted long through\nthe twilight until the dark night came, but she could not find them.\nThe next morning early she went to the vegetable garden, and there she\nfound her chickens. They were glad to see her, and bowed their heads\nand flew to her.\n\nHong-Mo said, \u201cWhat are you doing? Why do you children stay out here,\nwhen I have given you a good house to live in?\u201d\n\nThe secretary told her all about the trouble with the king.\n\nHong-Mo said, \u201cNow you must be friendly to each other. Come with me,\nand I will bring you and your king together. We must have peace here.\u201d\n\nWhen the chickens came to where the king was, he walked about, and\nscraped his wings on the ground, and sharpened his spurs. His people\nhad come to make peace, and they bowed their heads and looked happy\nwhen they saw their king. But he still walked about alone and would not\nbow.\n\nHe said, \u201cI am a king\u2014always a king. Do you know that? You bow your\nheads and think that pleases me. But what do I care? I should not care\nif there was never another chicken in the world but myself. I am king.\u201d\n\nAnd he hopped up on a tree and sang some war songs. But suddenly an\neagle who heard him, flew down and caught him in his talons and carried\nhim away. And the chickens never saw their proud, quarrelsome king\nagain.\n\n\n\nEe-Sze (Meaning): No position in life is so high that it gives the\nright to be proud and quarrelsome.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE LEMON TREE AND THE PUMELO\n\n\u6ab8\u6aac\u8207\u9178\u6885\n\n\nOnce a Lemon Tree and a Pumelo Tree lived and grew together in an old\norchard.\n\nWhen the springtime came, they opened wide their beautiful blossoms and\nwere very happy.\n\nAnd all the children came to visit them, and their hearts were glad\nwith the joy of springtime.\n\nWhen the warm winds blew, they bowed their heads and waved their\nblossom-covered arms until they looked like gay little flower girls\ndancing in the sunshine.\n\nThen the birds came together, and sang sweet songs to the fragrant,\nhappy trees, and their joy lasted from spring until summer.\n\nBut once in the summer time the Lemon Tree talked all night long,\ntelling the Pumelo Tree of a great sorrow that had come to her. And she\nsaid, \u201cI wish I were a Pumelo Tree, for I have learned that the\nchildren of men do not like my children so well as they like yours.\n\n\u201cThe first born of my family are thrown away or destroyed. The second\ngeneration are taken from me and put in the sunshine for twenty days\nbefore they are liked. They are never seen in the market places as your\nchildren are, for it is said we are too bitter and sour.\n\n\u201cMy children are not well thought of. Ah me! I wish I were not a Lemon\nTree.\n\n\u201cWhy did the Creator make your children so sweet that they have a good\nname in all the world, while mine are sour and bitter?\n\n\u201cMy flowers are the same as your flowers. My trees are liked the same\nas yours, but my fruit is almost despised.\n\n\u201cWhen the Moon feast day of the eighth month and fifteenth day comes,\nthen your children have a happy time for they are honored in every\nfamily. When the New Year feast day comes, your children are placed on\nthe first table and every one says, \u2018Oh, how beautiful!\u2019\n\n\u201cWomen and girls like to kiss your children\u2019s sweet faces. Oh, Mrs.\nPumelo, I should like to be as great a blessing to the world as you\nare.\u201d\n\nAnd the Pumelo said, \u201cMy dear friend, do not say these sad words to me.\nI feel sure that some day you will be loved as much as I am.\n\n\u201cDid you know that the master spoke of your beauty to-day?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat did he say?\u201d asked the Lemon Tree.\n\n\u201cHe said, \u2018How beautiful the Lemon Tree is! I think I shall try to\ngraft the branches of the Lemon Tree on to the Pumelo Tree.\u2019\n\n\u201cWait until another springtime comes and you will see how much your\nchildren will be honored. How happy we shall be together when you come\nto grow with me and I with you.\u201d\n\nSo the next year the master and his son brought a sharp knife and cut\nthe Lemon Tree\u2019s branches, and fastened them to the Pumelo Tree.\n\nThe first fruit came and the children danced for joy.\n\n\u201cHow queer to see lemons growing on the Pumelo Tree!\u201d they said.\n\nAnd the lemons were no longer bitter and sour, but were so pleasant to\ntaste and so fair to look upon that many were saved for the coming\nfeast day.\n\nThe Lemon Tree saw that her children were honored, and she was very\nhappy.\n\nHer heart was grateful to the Pumelo Tree who had raised her children\nto honored places.\n\nAnd from that time the Lemon Tree and the Pumelo both had the same body\nand the same mind, the same happiness and the same friends, through\nmany generations forever.\n\n\n\nEe-Sze (Meaning): When you help another you make two people happy.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWOO SING AND THE MIRROR\n\n\u501f\u93e1\u8a13\u5b50\n\n\nOne day Woo Sing\u2019s father brought home a mirror from the great city.\n\nWoo Sing had never seen a mirror before. It was hung in the room while\nhe was out at play, so when he came in he did not understand what it\nwas, but thought he saw another boy.\n\nThis made him very happy, for he thought the boy had come to play with\nhim.\n\nHe spoke to the stranger in a very friendly way, but received no reply.\n\nHe laughed and waved his hand at the boy in the glass, who did the same\nthing, in exactly the same way.\n\nThen Woo Sing thought, \u201cI will go closer. It may be that he does not\nhear me\u201d. But when he began to walk, the other boy imitated him.\n\nWoo Sing stopped to think about these strange actions, and he said to\nhimself, \u201cThis boy mocks me, he does everything that I do;\u201d and the\nmore he thought about it, the angrier he became, and soon he noticed\nthat the boy became angry too.\n\nSo Woo Sing grew very much enraged and struck the boy in the glass, but\nhe only hurt his hand and he went crying to his father.\n\nThe father said, \u201cThe boy you saw was your own image. This should teach\nyou an important lesson, my son. You ought never to show your anger\nbefore other people. You struck the boy in the glass and hurt only\nyourself.\n\n\u201cNow remember, that in real life when you strike without cause you will\nhurt yourself most of all.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTWO MOTHERS AND A CHILD [3]\n\n\u4e8c\u6bcd\u4e00\u5b69\n\n\nWoo-Liu-Mai\u2019s (sweet smelling flower) husband died when her boy baby\nwas just two days old. She was young\u2014only fifteen\u2014and had loved her\nhusband much; and now she felt very lonely and sad. In her heart she\nwondered why the gods had taken him away from her and the little baby,\nwho needed him so much; but she was a good woman and patient, and never\ncomplained to the heavens or to her friends.\n\nOne day she felt that she must talk to somebody about it all. So she\nwent to her mother-in-law and said, \u201cMother, to-morrow is the New Year\nDay and we must make merry and buy firecrackers and incense for the\ntemple. We have thirty gods in our house and we worship often, but they\ndo not help us any. They would not keep my husband alive and let us be\nhappy together.\u201d\n\nWoo-Liu-Mai\u2019s mother-in-law answered, \u201cMy child, we can see many people\nworse off than we are. Look at the poor\u2014and there are many of them.\nThey have no houses to live in. They go around to many market places,\nbegging rice and sweet potatoes. They walk all the time and lose their\nhealth trying to get enough food to keep alive. Sometimes they walk\nfrom early morning to the dark night and get only one little meal.\n\n\u201cAnd, daughter, do you not know how many people are frozen and die by\nthe wayside in the cold winter? The New Year brings them two or three\ndays of happiness, then all the rest of the year they are hungry and\nsad.\n\n\u201cYou married my son very young and you are not yet old. You have a good\nhouse to live in, plenty of clothes to wear, and a little son. I think\nyou have great blessings from the gods. To-morrow is the New Year Day,\nand we will buy some pretty red paper to cut in a thousand pieces and\nhang on our walls, doors, beds, and vases.\n\n\u201cWe will make a happy New Year and worship the gods. We will open our\ndoor wide and our friends who are happy will come to us and make the\nNew Year call. We will cook the two sweet potatoes, one for you and\none-half for me, and the other half for the child. Now see what a happy\nNew Year we shall have.\u201d\n\nBut on the morning of the New Year early, Woo-Liu-Mai awoke and found\nher child dead in the bed by her side, and she ran sobbing her great\ndespair to her mother-in-law.\n\n\u201cWe will not hang up the red paper on the door or any place, mother,\nfor our happiness is all dead now. We will have a funeral in three\ndays.\u201d\n\nWoo-Liu-Mai\u2019s mother then took a piece of blue cloth and nailed it to\nthe door, so that people would know that some one was dead there and\nwould not come near the house for fear of bad luck. And she laid the\nchild on a cloth and covered him with another cloth until the third\nday, when he would be buried.\n\nWhen people passed by and saw the blue cloth on the door, they thought\nthe mother-in-law, who was old, must be dead.\n\nThe second day Woo-Liu-Mai went to her own mother\u2019s home, which was\nsome distance from there, and said, \u201cMother, my child is dead. Just as\nthe New Year Day came, in the morning early, before the sunrise\u2014so he\ndied.\u201d\n\nWoo-Liu-Mai\u2019s sisters, cousins, and neighbors came to comfort her,\nbecause they were sorry. She was now both a widow and childless. In\nChina it is bad to be a widow, but to be both widowed and childless\nmakes of a woman almost an outcast.\n\nOne favorite cousin, Woo-Lau-Chan, a very good woman who loved\nWoo-Liu-Mai like a sister, had a baby just the age of the one who had\ndied, and when she heard the news, she thought much in her heart of her\ncousin\u2019s great sorrow. \u201cHow can my cousin find comfort in life any\nmore?\u201d she said in her mind. \u201cShe lost her husband when so young and\nnow she has lost her only child. The first happiness lost\u2014the second\nhappiness lost. A widowed woman has nothing more to expect in life. Oh,\nI want to do something for her. Clothes, money, bracelets, jewelry, can\nnot comfort her without her child.\u201d\n\nWoo-Lau-Chan then dressed herself and took up her sleeping child and\nran to the house where the dead baby lay. She was brave and went into\nthe dark empty room, and no one saw her. She never thought or cared \nabout the bad luck it might bring, nor of herself in any way. She \nthought only of the great sorrow of the dead child\u2019s mother.\n\nThe still body lay on the floor; she took off its clothes and put them\non her own baby, and she waited until he had had milk and slept again; \nthen she laid him on the floor and took the body of the dead child and \nwent out into the great forest, where she left it.\n\nShe then went back to her cousin with a happy smiling face and said,\n\u201cWoo-Liu-Mai, I wish you would come with me to your home.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d said Woo-Liu-Mai sadly, \u201cI will go to-morrow and bury my child. I\nwill stay here until then.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut you can not wait until to-morrow. Come with me now. The gods told\nme in a dream last night that your child would live again. Kwoh-King\nmay now be crying for milk. Come, go now.\u201d\n\nBut Woo-Liu-Mai said, \u201cNo, it can not be. You tell me what is not true.\nI will go to-morrow to bury my dead.\u201d\n\nJust then word came from the mother-in-law, \u201cYour child is alive. Come\nhome.\u201d\n\nWoo-Liu-Mai went home and saw the child sitting on the grandmother\u2019s\nlap. And the grandmother said, \u201cThree days your child lay on the floor as\nif dead. His face is changed, his body is changed. Strange, he seems\nnot like the same baby, but he is alive, alive.\u201d\n\nThen they thanked the gods with great joy, and the boy grew and was\nwise beyond the number of his years.\n\nWoo-Liu-Mai\u2019s heart was now filled with great peace, and she no longer\ncomplained even in secret against the gods.\n\nWoo-Lau-Chan, the real mother, kept her secret well and no one knew,\nbut in her heart she said,\n\n\u201cThe time will come, when I must tell my son all. When the years have\ngrown old, Kwoh-King, his children and his children\u2019s children will\nbow in reverence to the ancestors who brought them into life, and it is\nright that he should know the truth and have his own birthright.\u201d\n\nBut in his youth she said, \u201cNot now, for the judgment of youth is\nunstable and he might forsake Woo-Liu-Mai, and leave her again\nsorrowful.\u201d\n\nWhen Kwoh-King was seven years old, he began school, and he learned\nfast. But in time the money was nearly gone and Woo-Liu-Mai was too\npoor to send him longer to the nearest school.\n\nOne of her cousins, who was a teacher, sent word that he would teach\nthe child, so he was sent to the school where he need not pay. When\nKwoh-King was sixteen years old, he finished his studies with great\nhonor. He was still wiser than his years and went to work for the\ngovernment, soon being given a high state position.\n\nThen his mother, Woo-Lau-Chan, who was also a widow, wrote the whole\ntruth to Kwoh-King and to the government\u2014his father\u2019s name, his\nmother\u2019s name, his home, his house\u2014all with great care.\n\nAnd the two mothers, the mother who raised him and the mother who bore\nhim, were called by the government; and when the Emperor heard this\nstory, they were given a beautiful house, and Kwoh-King lived near and\ntook loving care of them both as long as they lived.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE BOY WHO WOULD NOT TELL A LIE [4]\n\n\u7ae5\u4e0d\u8aaa\u8b0a\n\n\nSi-Ma-Quong lived in the Province of Sze-Chuen. When he was young\n(about six years old) he played with a dog and a cat, but they hunted\nall night long for food in the wilderness, and his mother feared he\nmight get the devil-sickness from them. So one day his father paid much\nsilver for Wa-Na-Juch, a bird with a beautiful song, for his son to\nplay with.\n\nWa-Na-Juch hopped on Si-Ma-Quong\u2019s lap and shoulder and ate from his\nhand. He was a very handsome bird, and he sang all day long.\n\nOne day he flew out to the lake to bathe, and Si-Ma-Quong was very\nhappy watching him. Then he ran and told his mother, \u201cM\u00fc-Tsing, [5] I\nsaw the bird bathe in the lake. I think the water is too cold for him.\nGive him a good hot bath, as you give me.\u201d\n\nHis mother said, \u201cIn winter you have a warm bath, but not too hot.\u201d\n\nWhen she bathed Si-Ma-Quong, she showed him why the water must not be\ntoo hot for the bird, and he seemed to understand. But the next day\nwhen his mother went out, Si-Ma-Quong said to his bird, \u201cWa-Na-Juch, do\nyou want a bath?\u201d And the bird said, \u201cChi-Chi,\u201d which the boy thought\nmeant \u201cYes, Yes.\u201d\n\nHe put some clean hot water in a dish, and called the bird, but it\nwould not even go near the water.\n\nThis made Si-Ma-Quong angry. \u201cYou tell me a lie, and that is very bad,\u201d\nhe said to the bird. \u201cYou said, \u2018Yes, Yes,\u2019 when I asked if you wanted\na bath. Now, I will bathe you as M\u00fc-Tsing bathes me.\u201d\n\nHe then put the bird in the hot water, but it chirped loudly and tried\nto get away. \u201cDo not cry and be a bad bird,\u201d said Si-Ma-Quong. \u201cI cry\nsometimes too, when M\u00fc-Tsing bathes me,\u201d but in two or three minutes,\nthe bird lay still and he put it on the table to dry.\n\nWhen his mother came, he said, \u201cM\u00fc-Tsing, my bird is cold. He is on the\ntable. I think he wants some clothes. Give him my fur jacket and make\nhim warm, so he will stand up and sing.\u201d\n\nHis mother did not know about the bath, so she said, \u201cOh no, the bird\nneeds no jacket. He wears a feather jacket.\u201d\n\nShe then went into the room and saw the bird lying on the table, and\nshe said, \u201cHe is dead. Who did this, Si-Ma-Quong? He is wet. Did he go\nto the pond? I think you killed him. If you did, your father will\nsurely beat you, and he will never bring you another bird.\u201d\n\nAnd Si-Ma-Quong cried and said, \u201cYes, I did it. I put him in hot water.\nI bathed him just as you bathe me. At first he would not go in, but I\nmade him. Then he cried, \u2018Chi-Chi-Chee.\u2019 Will you tell my father? I\nthink he will forgive me, if I tell him the truth. He did the last time\nI did wrong.\u201d\n\nWhen time came for the evening meal, his mother called him, but he\nwould not eat. He said, \u201cI am sorry about Wa-Na-Juch, and I can not eat\nfood. Wait until my father comes, so that I may tell him all I have\ndone.\u201d\n\n\n\nOnce Si-Ma-Quong and two other boys were trying to peel fruit that grew\nin a neighbor\u2019s garden, but the peach skins were tight and the boys\nwere not skilled. Their task seemed not likely to be finished, when a\nman passing by said, \u201cI will tell you how to peel the peaches. Get\nboiling water, drop the peaches in and take them out in a very little\ntime, and then you can pull off their skins easily.\u201d\n\nThe man whose peaches they were peeling came soon, and saw that the\ntask was finished. He looked at the fruit and said, \u201cI never saw fruit\npeeled with so little waste. How did you do it?\u201d\n\nThey showed him the hot water and he said, \u201cYou are very wise to know\nfirst this way of peeling fruit. I will give a piece of silver to each\nof the boys who made the discovery.\u201d\n\nHe asked the other two, \u201cDid you?\u201d and \u201cDid you?\u201d and they both said,\n\u201cYes.\u201d He then gave them the silver, but Si-Ma-Quong said, \u201cNo, I do\nnot want the silver. We did not ourselves know how to remove the peach\nskins. A strange man showed us.\u201d\n\nNow these two things happened when Si-Ma-Quong was very young; and he\nlived seventy-two years and served his emperor and his nation wisely.\nHe did many great things, because he was true in the little things. So\nhistory says that this man, who never spoke falsely as a child, youth,\nor man, was one of the greatest men in the Chinese nation.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA GREAT REPENTANCE AND A GREAT FORGIVENESS\n\n\u6094\u6055\u4e26\u884c\n\n\nLiang-Sheng-Y\u00fc was one of the great generals of China. He had served\nhis kingdom wisely for many years, when there was a war of four\nnations. Liang-Sheng-Y\u00fc conquered the other nations, and put them under\nthe authority of his king.\n\nHe was also called Seung-Foo, or the great Helper of the King. He was\ngiven this honorable title because he had served two generations of\nkings\u2014father and son.\n\nOne day Liang-Sheng-Y\u00fc reproved the general, Liang-Po, in the presence\nof the king. Liang-Po was angry because of this and said to himself,\n\u201cAlthough Liang-Sheng-Y\u00fc is a great general, he should not say these\nthings to me in the king\u2019s presence. He has found fault before the\nking. I will now find fault with him and accuse him before the king.\nThe king forgave me, only because he knew I had done many good things\nfor the kingdom.\u201d\n\nHe went to his home, but he could not sleep, for his heart burned with\nanger. In the morning his face was yet cast down with sorrow, for he\ncould not forget his great disgrace before the king. His wife\nquestioned him, \u201cWhat troubled you last night?\u201d But he only answered,\n\u201cDo not ask.\u201d\n\nA servant brought his morning meal, but it was to him as if it had no\ntaste. And the wine-servant gave him wine, but it tasted as water.\nAnother servant brought him water to bathe, and he said, \u201cIt is too\ncold.\u201d But the water was such as it always had been.\n\nThree days passed by and the heart of Liang-Po changed not. Then he\nwent to the house of a friend. On the way, while still at some\ndistance, he saw Liang-Sheng-Y\u00fc coming and he tried to meet him and\ntalk with him. But Liang-Sheng-Y\u00fc walked by on the other side and would\nnot see.\n\nLiang-Po said to himself, \u201cThis is a strange and terrible thing. I was\nnever his enemy; why is he so long angry? Why will he not face me? With\nhim I served the king many years. I can not see why he should turn away\nfrom me. He is wrong, wrong.\u201d\n\nHe went home and wrote a letter to Liang-Sheng-Y\u00fc saying, \u201cI saw you on\nthe Wun-Chung Street to-day and I desired to meet you and tell you many\nthings. I believe you wished not to see me, for you walked on the other\nside, with your face turned from me. So my heart has another sorrow. I\nwould see you to-morrow, soon after the morning meal, and I invite you\nto come to my house and eat the noon meal with me.\u201d\n\nBut when the servant had brought Liang-Sheng-Y\u00fc the letter and he had\nread it, he threw it into the fire and said not a word. The servant saw\nand went home and told Liang-Po.\n\nFifty days after this, word came that the Chaa-Kwa Kingdom was about to\nmake war against the Juo Kingdom.\n\nThe king, therefore, sent word to the general, Liang-Po, and to the\ngreat helper, Liang-Sheng-Y\u00fc, saying, \u201cI want you to come at once to\nme, your king.\u201d\n\nWhen he received the word, Liang-Po said, \u201cI think there will be a\ngreat war with the Chaa-Kwa Kingdom.\u201d So he waited before going to the\nking, and gave orders that four thousand soldiers should make ready for\nbattle.\n\nThey made ready, and for two days Liang-Po delayed his going. But\nLiang-Sheng-Y\u00fc was already with the king. And in his heart he had fear,\nfor he thought, \u201cLiang-Po will not come. I have made him feel shame\nbefore the king. I have done wrong. But if he comes not, our nation is\nsurely lost. We can not go into battle without him.\u201d\n\nThe king asked him, \u201cWhy has not the general, Liang-Po, come into my\npresence? We can not have war without the general. Without him we can\nnot even send an answer to the Chaa-Kwa Kingdom.\u201d\n\nLiang-Sheng-Y\u00fc answered and said, \u201cBefore I sleep this night, I will\nsee the general.\u201d Then he went to his home and told his servants, \u201cI\nhave not time for food. I must see General Liang-Po.\u201d And he bade them\ncut a bundle of thorn sticks, which he took and carried to Liang-Po\u2019s\nhouse.\n\nIt was the time of Nyi-Kang (Everything Quiet) when Liang-Sheng-Y\u00fc came\nto General Liang-Po\u2019s house. He knocked on the door three or four times\nbefore the servants opened it and asked, \u201cWho is here?\u201d He answered, \u201cI\nam Liang-Sheng-Y\u00fc. Tell your master I must see him to-night, or I die.\u201d\n\nLiang-Po dressed himself and came to the door. There he saw an old man\nwith head so bowed as to conceal his face. He wore old clothes, and he\ncarried a sword on his back and a bundle of thorn sticks in his hands.\nAnd he knelt on the floor.\n\nGeneral Liang-Po said, \u201cWho is this?\u201d Then Liang-Sheng-Y\u00fc, the great\nand proud helper of two generations of kings, said, \u201cI wish to see\nGeneral Liang-Po.\u201d\n\nHis face was still close to the floor and his voice trembled as he\nspoke. \u201cGeneral Liang-Po,\u201d he said, \u201cI was against you before the king\nand I have learned that the fault was mine. I found you right, and I am\nguilty, not you. I have done you great wrong. General Liang-Po, my\nsword is on my back and a bundle of thorn sticks is in my hand. Take\nthe sticks and beat me. Take the sword and cut off my head. We can not\nmake war to-morrow, if we are not at peace to-night.\u201d\n\nThen Liang-Po, the great general, helped Liang-Sheng-Y\u00fc upon his feet\nand said, \u201cNo, we have always been friends. We will be friends forever,\nand together we will serve our king. I wish you to forgive me. I wish\nthe king, too, to forgive me, for I have also made mistakes. We will\nall forgive and be forgiven\u2014then we will surely be friends.\u201d\n\nThe two great men bowed down together and worshiped the Creator, and\nthey both swore that from that time they would have the same mind.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE MAN WHO LOVED MONEY BETTER THAN LIFE\n\n\u611b\u8ca1\u52dd\u65bc\u611b\u547d\n\n\nIn ancient times there was an old woodcutter who went to the mountain\nalmost every day to cut wood.\n\nIt was said that this old man was a miser who hoarded his silver until\nit changed to gold, and that he cared more for gold than anything else\nin all the world.\n\nOne day a wilderness tiger sprang at him and though he ran he could not\nescape, and the tiger carried him off in its mouth.\n\nThe woodcutter\u2019s son saw his father\u2019s danger, and ran to save him if\npossible. He carried a long knife, and as he could run faster than the\ntiger, who had a man to carry, he soon overtook them.\n\nHis father was not much hurt, for the tiger held him by his clothes.\nWhen the old woodcutter saw his son about to stab the tiger he called\nout in great alarm:\n\n\u201cDo not spoil the tiger\u2019s skin! Do not spoil the tiger\u2019s skin! If you\ncan kill him without cutting holes in his skin we can get many pieces\nof silver for it. Kill him, but do not cut his body.\u201d\n\nWhile the son was listening to his father\u2019s instructions the tiger\nsuddenly dashed off into the forest, carrying the old man where the son\ncould not reach him, and he was soon killed.\n\n\n\nAnd the wise man who told this story said, \u201cAh, this old man\u2019s courage\nwas foolishness. His love for money was stronger than his love for life\nitself.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE HEN AND THE CHINESE MOUNTAIN TURTLE\n\n\u96de\u9f9e\u4e4b\u722d\n\n\nFour hundred and fifty years ago in Sze-Cheung Province, Western China,\nthere lived an old farmer named Ah-Po.\n\nThe young farmers all said Ah-Po knew everything. If they wanted to\nknow when it would rain, they asked Ah-Po, and when he said, \u201cIt will\nnot rain to-morrow,\u201d or \u201cYou will need your bamboo-hat [6] this time\nto-morrow,\u201d it was as he said. He knew all about the things of nature\nand how to make the earth yield best her fruits and seeds, and some\nsaid he was a prophet.\n\nOne day Ah-Po caught a fine mountain turtle. It was so large that it\ntook both of Ah-Po\u2019s sons to carry it home. They tied its legs together\nand hung it on a strong stick, and each son put an end of the stick on\nhis shoulder.\n\nAh-Po said, \u201cWe will not kill the turtle. He is too old to eat, and I\nthink we will keep him and watch the rings grow around his legs each\nyear.\u201d So they gave him a corner in the barnyard and fed him rice and\nwater.\n\nAh-Po had many chickens, and for three months the turtle and chickens\nlived in peace with each other. But one day all the young chickens came\ntogether and laughed at the turtle. Then they said to him, \u201cWhy do you\nlive here so long? Why do you not go back to your own place? This small\nbarnyard corner is not so good as your cave in the wilderness. You have\nonly a little sand and grass to live on here. The servant feeds you,\nbut she never gives you any wilderness fruits. You are very large, and\nyou take up too much room. We need all the room there is here. You\nfoolish old thing, do you think our fathers and mothers want you? No.\nThere is not one of our people who likes you. Besides, you are not\nclean. You make too much dirt. The servant girl gave you this water to\ndrink, and your water bowl is even now upside down. You scatter rice on\nour floor. Too many flies come here to see you, and we do not like\nflies.\u201d\n\nThe turtle waited until they had all finished scolding. Then he said,\n\u201cDo you think I came here myself? Who put me here, do you know? Do you\nsuppose I like to be in jail? You need not be jealous. I never ate any\nrice that belonged to you or your family. I am not living in your\nhouse. What are you complaining about? If our master should take your\nwhole family and sell it, he would only get one piece of silver. Who\nand what are you to talk so much? Wait and see; some day I may have the\nhonored place.\u201d\n\nSome of the chickens went home and told their mother, \u201cWe had an\nargument with the turtle to-day and he had the last word. To-morrow we\nwant you to go with us and show him that a chicken can argue, as well\nas a turtle.\u201d\n\nThe next day all the chickens of the barnyard went to see the turtle.\nAnd the old hen said, \u201cMy children came here to play yesterday, and you\nscolded them and drove them away. You said all my family were not worth\none piece of silver. You think you are worth many pieces of gold, I\nsuppose. No one likes you. Your own master would not eat you. And the\nmarket people would never buy a thing so old and tough as you are. But\nI suppose you will have to stay here in our yard a thousand years or\nso, until you die. Then they will carry you to the wilderness and throw\nyou into the Nobody-Knows Lake.\u201d\n\nThen the turtle answered and said, \u201cI am a mountain turtle. I come from\na wise family, and it is not easy for even man to catch me. Educated\nmen, doctors, know that I am useful for sickness, but if all the people\nknew the many ways they could use me, I think there would soon be no\nmore turtles in the world. Many Chinese know that my skin is good for\nskin disease, and my forefeet are good for the devil-sickness in\nchildren, as they drive the devil away; and then my shells are good for\nsore throat, and my stomach is good for stomach-ache, and my bones are\ngood for toothache. Do you remember that not long ago our master\nbrought three turtle eggs to feed your children? I heard him say,\n\u2018Those little chickens caught cold in that damp place, and so I must\ngive them some turtle eggs.\u2019 I saw your children eat those three eggs,\nand in two or three days they were well.\n\n\u201cSo you see the turtle is a useful creature in the world, even to\nchickens. Why do you not leave me in peace? As I must stay here against\nmy will, it is not right that your children should trouble me.\nSometimes they take all my rice and I go hungry, for our master will\nnot allow me to go outside of this fence to hunt food for myself. I\nnever come to your house and bother you, but your children will not\neven let me live in peace in the little corner our master gave me. If I\nhad a few of my own people here with me, as you have, I think you would\nnot trouble me. But I have only myself, while you are many.\n\n\u201cYesterday your children scolded me and disturbed my peace. To-day you\ncome again; and to-morrow and many to-morrows will see generations and\nstill more unhatched generations of chickens coming here to scold me, I\nfear; for the length of life of a cackling hen is as a day to me\u2014a\nmountain turtle. I know the heaven is large, I know the earth is large\nand made for all creatures alike. But you think the heavens and the\nearth were both made for you and your chickens only. If you could drive\nme away to-day, you would try to-morrow to drive the dog away, and in\ntime you would think the master himself ought not to have enough of\nyour earth and air to live in. This barnyard is large enough for birds,\nchickens, ducks, geese, and pigs. It makes our master happy to have us\nall here.\u201d\n\nThe chickens went away ashamed. Talking to each other about it, they\nsaid, \u201cThe turtle is right. It is foolish to want everything. We\nbarnyard creatures must live at peace with each other until we die. The\nbarnyard is not ours; we use it only a little while.\u201d\n\n\n\nEe-Sze (Meaning): The Creator made the world for all to use, and, while\nusing it, the strong should not try to drive out the weak.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE BOY OF PERFECT DISPOSITION [7]\n\n\u5b8c\u5168\u4e4b\u6027\u683c\n\nTHE STORY OF TSEN-TSZE, A PUPIL OF CONFUCIUS\n\n\nAbout two thousand four hundred and twenty years ago, Tsen-Tsze [8] was\na child and lived in San-Szi Province. For twenty-one years he studied\nmany things with the great teacher, Confucius. And the first great\nmoral law of Confucius he obeyed, not only in his acts, but in his\nheart, even when beaten for a thing he did not understand. [9] And it\nis not on record that any other man has ever done this.\n\nIn earliest childhood, he always loved and reverenced his father and\nmother. In the morning when he arose he went to see his parents before\nhe would have the morning meal.\n\nOne day Tsen-Tsze\u2019s mother went away to visit his grandparents. When\nshe left, she said, \u201cDear son, I will return in one day. You and your\nfather will be happy for a day without me.\u201d And he knelt [10] and bowed\nhis head to worship his mother at parting.\n\nThe evening came and she did not return, and Tsen-Tsze could not eat\nfood or sleep that night from anxiety for his mother. And when the maid\nservant called him for the morning meal, he said, \u201cNo; I can not eat\nfood until I see my mother\u2019s face.\u201d But his father said, \u201cYou must eat\nand go to school.\u201d\n\n\u201cI can not eat food or study books until my mother comes,\u201d said\nTsen-Tsze, and word was sent his teacher who said, \u201cYou are not quite\nwise, Tsen-Tsze. If your mother should die, would you then no longer\nstudy? I hope to see you soon at school.\u201d\n\nAt midday his mother came. Then he had food, and went to school and\nstudied his lessons.\n\nWhen he came home from school, he always went to see where his parents\nwere before going to play. At meal time he would not take food until\nhis father and mother began eating. When he met an old person on the\nstreet, he uncovered his head and stood aside respectfully to let him\npass before he went on.\n\nThese and all other customs of courtesy were observed and honored by\nTsen-Tsze. At school he studied his lessons faithfully, and never left\ntasks unfinished. Every day he asked his teacher, \u201cHave I done any\nwrong to-day?\u201d\u2014so great was his desire to know the right and to do all\nthat he knew.\n\nOne day Tsen-Tsze\u2019s father beat him with a long Kia-Tsa (stick). [11]\nWhen he got up from the floor he came and took his father\u2019s hand and\nasked, \u201cFather, did I do wrong? Tell me what it was.\u201d But his father\u2019s\nface was red with anger, and he would not explain.\n\nTsen-Tsze went out to the schoolroom and took his music box and came\nagain before his father\u2019s face, and sat down on the floor and played\nand sang to him. He sang,\n\n\n   \u201cEvery father loves his son,\n    Of this all men are sure.\n    Each child will need the stick sometimes,\n    To keep his nature pure.\u201d\n\n\nAnd he said, \u201cI read in history about many famous men who were great\nbecause they were gentle. I hope I shall be like them. History says\ntheir fathers gave them the stick when young.\u201d But the anger had not\nall left his father\u2019s face, and he brought him a cup of tea and said,\n\u201cFather, are you thirsty?\u201d\n\nThen he took his father\u2019s hand and went to the garden where the birds\nwere singing. He put a flower on his father\u2019s breast and asked,\n\u201cFather, do you like that? I do.\u201d\n\nAll this caused Tsen-Tsze\u2019s father to think, and in his heart he said,\n\u201cThis boy is not like other children of his age.\u201d And so long as he had\nlife, he never beat his son again.\n\nTsen-Tsze became a great scholar and finished all his studies when he\nwas only twenty-five years old. And he was a wise and good man.\n\nHis own generation and all the generations of man that have come after\nhim have studied about him, and have wished to be as he was.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWHAT THE YEN TZI TAUGHT THE HUNTER [12]\n\n\u7375\u4eba\u53d7\u654e\u65bc\u9ce5\n\n\nOne day a hunter was looking for a fox in the wilderness, when suddenly\nhe saw thousands of birds coming towards the river, and he lay quite\nstill and waited for them all to come.\n\nThe Yen Tzi, or Kind Birds, were talking together, and the hunter\nlistened. One asked, \u201cIs all our company here?\u201d\n\nAnd the Leader Bird said, \u201cNo, little One-Month-Old and Two-Month and\nMrs. This-Year are not here yet.\u201d\n\nAnd the Leader Bird said to the Lookout Birds, \u201cYou must go after them\nand help them to the river before five days. Our boats are dried and\nready to sail. It is growing cold and we must all go south together.\u201d\n\nSo the Lookout Birds flew all around the country to hunt the lost\nbirds. They found one with a broken wing, and a little one with not\nenough wing feathers to fly far, and one with a wound in his leg made\nby a hunter, and others that were tired or very hungry. They found\nevery missing bird, and this great family of friends were soon all\ntogether again.\n\nBut while the Lookout Birds were seeking the lost ones from their own\nfamily, they heard another bird cry, \u201cSave me! save me, too!\u201d And they\nstopped and said, \u201cWho is calling? Some one must be in trouble.\u201d They\nflew to a lemon tree and saw a Tailor Bird with her leg all covered\nwith blood. The Kind Birds said, \u201cFriend, how came you in such trouble?\nWhat is your name and where do you live?\u201d\n\nThe Tailor Bird said, \u201cI live in the South Province, eight hundred\nmiles away. I came here to see my friends and relatives. Three of my\nchildren are with me, and we were on our way home to the south. We had\ngone sixty miles, when I asked my children to stop and rest in this\nlemon tree, and now I do not even know where they are. I fear the\nhunter got them. I am hurt, too, and I do not think I shall ever see my\nhome again. I shall lose my life here, I fear.\u201d\n\nThe Yen Tzi heard all the Tailor Bird said. They talked together and\nwere sorry for her who had no one to care for her, for they knew her\nchildren had been killed by the hunter. \u201cIf we do not save her life,\nshe will surely die,\u201d they said.\n\nSo they asked, \u201cWould you like to go with us? We know you eat different\nfood. We live on rice and fruit and a few bugs. We do not know that you\ncan live as we do. And we must ride on our boats, many, many hours.\u201d\n\nThe Tailor Bird answered, \u201cYes, I will go gladly, and will eat what you\nhave and cause you no trouble.\u201d\n\nThe Kind Birds helped the Tailor Bird to their company and put her in\none of their boats, and two or three birds fed her and cared for her\nuntil she was well.\n\nThe hunter who told this story said, \u201cI have learned many things by\nwatching and studying the habits of the Kind Birds. I will never kill\nbirds again.\u201d\n\n\n\nEe-Sze (Meaning): In time of trouble, man should help not only his own,\nbut others.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA LESSON FROM CONFUCIUS\n\n\u5b54\u5b50\u4e4b\u654e\u8aa8\n\n\nConfucius once heard two of his pupils quarreling. One was of a gentle\nnature and was called by all the students a peaceful man. The other had\na good brain and a kind heart, but was given to great anger. If he\nwished to do a thing, he did it, and no man could prevent; if any one\ntried to hinder him, he would show sudden and terrible rage.\n\nOne day, after one of these fits of temper, the blood came from his\nmouth, and, in great fear, he went to Confucius. \u201cWhat shall I do with\nmy body?\u201d he asked. \u201cI fear I shall not live long. It may be better\nthat I no longer study and work. I am your pupil and you love me as a\nfather. Tell me what to do for my body.\u201d\n\nConfucius answered, \u201cTsze-Lu, you have a wrong idea about your body. It\nis not the study, not the work in school, but your great anger that\ncauses the trouble.\n\n\u201cI will help you to see this. You remember when you and Nou-Wui\nquarreled. He was at peace and happy again in a little time, but you\nwere very long in overcoming your anger. You can not expect to live\nlong if you do that way. Every time one of the pupils says a thing you\ndo not like, you are greatly enraged. There are a thousand in this\nschool. If each offends you only once, you will have a fit of temper a\nthousand times this year. And you will surely die, if you do not use\nmore self-control. I want to ask you some questions:\u2014\n\n\u201cHow many teeth have you?\u201d\n\n\u201cI have thirty-two, teacher.\u201d\n\n\u201cHow many tongues?\u201d\n\n\u201cJust one.\u201d\n\n\u201cHow many teeth have you lost?\u201d\n\n\u201cI lost one when I was nine years old, and four when I was about\ntwenty-six years old.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd your tongue\u2014is it still perfect?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, yes.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou know Mun-Gun, who is quite old?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, I know him well.\u201d\n\n\u201cHow many teeth do you think he had at your age?\u201d\n\n\u201cI do not know.\u201d\n\n\u201cHow many has he now?\u201d\n\n\u201cTwo, I think. But his tongue is perfect, though he is very old.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou see the teeth are lost because they are strong, and determined to\nhave everything they desire. They are hard and hurt the tongue many\ntimes, but the tongue never hurts the teeth. Yet, it endures until the\nend, while the teeth are the first of man to decay. The tongue is\npeaceful and gentle with the teeth. It never grows angry and fights\nthem, even when they are in the wrong. It always helps them do their\nwork, in preparing man\u2019s food for him, although the teeth never help\nthe tongue, and they always resist everything.\n\n\u201cAnd so it is with man. The strongest to resist, is the first to decay;\nand you, Tsze-Lu, will be even so if you learn not the great lesson of\nself-control.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE WIND, THE CLOUDS, AND THE SNOW [13]\n\n\nI\n\n(\u7b2c\u4e00)\u98a8\u96f2\u96ea\n\nOnce there was a great quarrel between the winds, the clouds, and the\nsnow.\n\nAnd suddenly, without any warning, there came the angry roar of the\nthunder and the sharp cracking of the forked lightning as it separated\nthe heavens.\n\nThen the north winds, the south winds, the east winds, and the west\nwinds came together a thousand and a thousand strong.\n\nAnd the sun was no longer seen, for the earth was covered with a deep\nblackness as of the night. The clouds were coming to the east, but the\nwind drove them all back to the west side of the heavens and finally\nmuch hail and snow were thrown down to the earth.\n\nThe clouds said to the snow, \u201cWhy do you go to earth? You are not\nwanted there. In the warm south land you are never welcomed. Your\npeople would be killed at once if they went there. Even here you are\nallowed to stay only for a short time.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe do not come to this earth for our own pleasure,\u201d answered the snow.\n\u201cIt was pleasanter where we were. We came to earth to help its people.\u201d\n\nAt this the clouds frowned until their faces became black and they\nsaid, \u201cWe can not believe that.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is true,\u201d answered the snow. \u201cIn the summer time you will see how\nthe people cry for pressed snow. They pay three pennies for one little\ncup of water that we have made cold.\n\n\u201cYou say we are not liked in the south land, but we tell you that the\nsouth-land people send many oxen, horses, and men to the north to find\nthe snow.\n\n\u201cThey pack us in the storehouses so that we may last until the hot\nweather, and when the summer fever comes all people need us.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou have been studying this one great need of man a long time, we\nthink,\u201d and the clouds bowed in scornful mock sympathy.\n\n\u201cWe do many good things for man,\u201d continued the snow. \u201cThunder and\nlightning do him much harm and he fears them greatly; but the Creator\nsends us to comfort him. The lightning disappears from the earth for a\ntime when the season of our appearance comes.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou should wear a crown,\u201d suggested the clouds sneeringly.\n\n\u201cA king who wore one\u2014the old King Dai-Sung\u2014once said of us, \u2018Oh, snow,\nsnow, how beautiful you are. It is good for flowers, good for grass,\nand good for trees that you are here.\u2019\n\n\u201cAnd he said to the rose bushes, shrubs, and trees who were asleep, \u2018If\nyou wish beauty in the spring time, you must have our friend the snow\nin the winter.\u2019\n\n\u201cHe laid his hand gently on his horses\u2019 necks and said, \u2018True helpers\nthat are both feet and legs to me, it will soon be time for the green\ngrass to appear. You will have plenty this year, for we had a thick\ncover of snow this winter.\n\n\u201c\u2018It will soon be hot weather, but I do not fear the heat, for I have\nplenty of hard snow, pressed and packed for the summer time.\u2019\n\n\u201cSo you see the snow is useful to man. We could have stayed where we\nwere in the sky and kept clean, and we need not have worked hard flying\nall the way down to the ground.\n\n\u201cWe never hear that the clouds do any good thing,\u201d said the snow.\n\n\u201cThe time may come when you will have finished talking,\u201d said the\nclouds. \u201cThen we can tell you some things.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe saw the big Ti-San Mountain to-day,\u201d continued the snow, \u201cand many\nof the cloud children were playing around its summit, but what good did\nthey do? None.\n\n\u201cA hunter was looking for wild beasts and your children were naughty\nand covered his eyes so that he could not see. Do you remember how he\nscolded your children and said, \u2018I do not like these cloudy, foggy\ndays\u2019?\n\n\u201cOnce the General San Chi led his soldiers to fight against his\nnation\u2019s enemy, and one night he went out to learn how many of the\nenemy could be seen.\n\n\u201cThe moon and stars tried to help him, but you came and covered them\nand it grew so dark that he lost his way. Then the enemy took his horse\nand gun and he nearly lost his life.\n\n\u201cHe hid in a cave and said, \u2018Those clouds have caused my death, I\nfear.\u2019 He lay in the dark cave until the morning came and he could see\nto find his way.\n\n\u201cWe do not see why the Creator made clouds to hang around in the sky\nfrom north to south, and east to west,\u201d said the snow, angrily.\n\n\n\n\nII\n\n(\u7b2c\u4e8c)\u98a8\u96f2\u96ea\n\nJust then the clouds\u2019 lawyer, the wind, came to defend them. \u201cWhom are\nyou scolding?\u201d he asked.\n\n\u201cYou think the Creator should have made the snow king of a world, I\nsuppose, and that there is no place or use for the clouds.\n\n\u201cYou talk so much that we can not find opportunity to tell what we are\ngood for. You are not the only helper of man and of growing things in\nthe hot summer time.\n\n\u201cDo you remember when the great General Dhi-Sing led five thousand\nsoldiers to battle? They traveled over mountains and through wild\nplaces until they were worn and weary.\n\n\u201cThey found water to drink by the Gold Mine Mountain and stopped there\nto rest; but there were no trees or growing things on that mountain and\nthey could find no shade.\n\n\u201cThe sun sent down great heat and they suffered so that they could not\nrest. Then they held their faces up to heaven and in anguish they\ncried, \u2018Oh, sun, why shine so hot to-day?\u2019\n\n\u201cThen they looked to the east and saw our brother, the cloud, beginning\nto appear.\n\n\u201c\u2018Why do you not come to us, and cover the face of the sun that we may\nhave shade and rest?\u2019 they pleaded of the cloud; and so our brother\ncame and stood between the earth and the sun.\n\n\u201c\u2018Oh, this is rest, rest,\u2019 said the soldiers in great relief. \u2018How we\nwish that the cloud might always shield us from the burning fire of the\nsun.\u2019\n\n\u201cAnd not only the soldiers, but all the farmers and woodcutters ask us\nto help them in the time when the sun comes close.\u201d\n\n\u201cCan you do only this one thing?\u201d asked the snow, coldly.\n\n\u201cWho carries the rain and the snow through the sky?\u201d asked the wind.\n\n\u201cI tell you there would be no rain nor snow but for the help of the\nwind and the clouds.\n\n\u201cYou know well that the rain is made from the ocean water.\n\n\u201cOne day the water said to the cloud, \u2018Friend, I should like to journey\naround and around the sky, but I have no wings, and can not fly. My\nbody is so heavy that I can not move it, and I never expect to take\nthis trip unless you, my friend, help me.\u2019\n\n\u201cAnd so we lifted the water and helped it step by step until we floated\nit through the air. Our first cloud faces were very light, but after we\nhad traveled five or six miles through the sky our faces changed to\ngray, and when we had gone one thousand miles our faces became black\nand the farmers said, \u2018We shall soon have rain.\u2019\n\n\u201cDo you know why the faces of clouds grow black?\u201d asked the wind.\n\n\u201cAnger makes things black,\u201d said the snow, \u201cbut why should we know, for\nof ourselves we never change color.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt was because great strength was being put forth to travel through\nthe sky,\u201d argued the wind, \u201cfor soon the drops of water said, \u2018We are\ntired and want to go back to earth again.\u2019\n\n\u201cThen we said to the water, \u2018The earth people need you and all growing\nthings need you. It is good that you go.\u2019\n\n\u201cAnd on the place where that water fell there had been no rain for\nthree years.\n\n\u201cThe king had bowed his head a thousand times before our father and\nmother and had cried, \u2018Oh, rain cloud, why are you so long in coming?\u2019\n\n\u201cWe heard the earth king\u2019s cry, and that night the mother of clouds\nsaid to us, \u2018My children, you must go down to earth and help its people\nor they will perish.\u2019 So we called all our brothers and sisters to go\nat the same time, and we went to earth and saved a million and a\nmillion lives.\n\n\u201cThe greatest wrong you have done is to forget who helped you when you\nwere needy,\u201d continued the wind.\n\n\u201cDo you remember that you once lived in the ocean, river, or lake? At\nthat time I do believe that you were not well liked. In the sea you\nwere in the lowest class and worked hard every day and night.\n\n\u201cWhen the wind came and blew you into waves you would always call out\nin a big rough voice, \u2018Muh; Muh; Spsh; Sph -s -s.\u2019\n\n\u201cYou were restless and unhappy, and tried and tried to escape from that\nplace, and the cloud mother pitied you.\n\n\u201cShe said, \u2018I am very sorry. We will bring them up here with us,\u2019 and\nshe asked the sun\u2019s help to do it.\n\n\u201cFor a day and a day, a night and a night, you were carried up, up to\nthe first section. But you were not satisfied then, and you were taken\nto very high seats.\n\n\u201cYou wanted the best places and would do no work unless the winds\npushed and the clouds carried you. So we took you up high where we\nlived and had a happy time.\n\n\u201cNow you have forgotten all this. Who helped you up? Who made you\npure?\u201d But the snow did not answer.\n\nFinally the snow said, \u201cYes, our family is from the rivers and seas. We\nhad forgotten. If we had only thought, we should have been more\ngrateful.\u201d\n\nThe sun was judge, and he said, \u201cWe decide this case in favor of the\nwind and the clouds.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE FISH AND THE FLOWERS\n\n\u9b5a\u82b1\u7570\u5473\n\n\nOnce there was a Chinese merchant who sold flowers and fish. In the\nwinter time the flowers and fish each had a separate house to live in,\nbut one very cold winter the merchant said to his servants, \u201cI think we\nmust put the lily bulbs in the house with the fish. It is warmer\nthere.\u201d\n\nAnd a thousand and a thousand narcissus bulbs which were growing for\nthe great feast of the New Year were moved into the house with the\nfish.\n\nThis made the fish angry and that night they scolded the narcissus.\n\n\u201cFriends,\u201d said the fishes, \u201cthis is not your place and we will not\nhave you here.\n\n\u201cWe do not like your odor. You will spoil our people. When men pass by\nour door they will see only you.\n\n\u201cThey will never see our family. You can not help or do any good here;\nso you must go.\n\n\u201cEvery day a hundred and a hundred merchants and students come to visit\nus. If you stand by our door they will surely think the fish are all\ngone and there is nothing but flowers left.\n\n\u201cWe do not want our place to smell so strongly of flowers. We do not\nlike it. It is very bad and makes us sick.\u201d\n\nThe narcissus answered, \u201cStrange, but we were thinking of that same\nthing.\n\n\u201cSome people say that fishes have a bad odor, but I never heard it said\nof our flowers. I think I will say no more about it. Let others\ndecide.\u201d\n\nThen another flower spoke and said to the one who had been talking,\n\u201cHush, sister, this is not our house. We will go to-morrow. Let the\nfishes say what they will about us, and do not quarrel with them. All\npeople know we are not bad and that our fragrance is sweet.\u201d\n\nWhen the morning sunshine came, the doors were opened, and a thousand\nand a thousand flowers had blossomed in the night, and the people said,\n\u201cOh, how sweet! Even a fish house can be made pleasant. We wish it\ncould be like this all the time.\u201d\n\nAnd one visitor said, \u201cHow sweet this place is! Do fishes or flowers\nlive here?\u201d And when he saw, he said, \u201cIt is too bad to put delicate\nflowers in evil smelling places.\u201d\n\nThen three students came to buy flowers. The servants brought three\npots from the fish house, and the students said, \u201cWe do not want pots\nfrom the fish house. Give us others. These have a disagreeable smell,\nlike the fishes.\u201d\n\nThe fishes heard all and were even more angry at the flowers. But the\nflowers heard and were happy, and they said, \u201cHow foolish to quarrel\nand try to put evil on others.\u201d\n\n\n\nEe-Sze (Meaning): The good need no defense. Their best defense lies\nwithin themselves.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE HEN, THE CAT, AND THE BIRDS\n\n\u96de\u732b\u9ce5\n\n\nOnce a farmer\u2019s boy caught three young wood larks. He took them home\nand gave them his best and largest cage to live in. Soon they were\nhappy and sang almost all day long.\n\nEvery one liked the birds very much, excepting the cat and the hen.\n\nOne day the sun shone very hot and the birds tried to get out of the\ncage. They wanted to fly in the trees and bushes.\n\nThe farmer\u2019s boy knew what they wanted and hung their cage in the tree.\n\nHe said to himself, \u201cI think my birds will like this. They can get\nacquainted with other birds. I know birds should go with birds. That is\ntheir happiness.\u201d\n\nThen the wood larks sang loud and long, for they were glad to be in the\ntrees.\n\nAn old hen was sitting on some eggs near by, and her little ones were\njust beginning to come out of the shells. The singing of the birds made\nher angry and she said to them, \u201cWill you stop that noise for a time so\nthat I may hear my little ones call? I can not hear a word my children\nsay. That is not a pretty song, anyway. When other birds sing, their\nsongs are sweet; but your noise hurts my ears. Why do you sing all the\ntime? No one likes to hear you.\n\n\u201cThat foolish boy did not know much about birds, or he would not have\ncaught you. There are plenty of other birds in the mountain. The thrush\nand the kind-birds are good, with fine voices and clean and beautiful\nfeathers.\n\n\u201cWhy could not that foolish boy catch them? They are the birds I like.\nThey are kind to chickens and like to live with us, but you wood larks\nare our enemies, and our children fear to come near you.\u201d\n\nThe birds made no reply to the hen\u2019s scolding. They sang and were happy\nand did not seem to notice her.\n\nThis only made the hen more angry, and when the cat passed by her door,\nshe said, \u201cGood morning, Mrs. Cat. Do you know we have much trouble\nsince our enemies, the wood larks, came here to live? They are always\ntrying to get out of the cage. I think they want to hurt my children\u2014or\nyours,\u201d she added slyly.\n\n\u201cDo you hear their harsh ugly voices all the day? I can not sleep, I\ncan not find any comfort here since those birds have come.\u201d\n\n\u201cOur master\u2019s son brought them,\u201d said the cat, \u201cand we can not help\nourselves. What would you do about it?\u201d\n\n\u201cI told you,\u201d said the hen, \u201cthat I do not like those birds. They\nshould be killed or driven away.\u201d\n\n\u201cI do not like them very well either,\u201d replied the cat. \u201cCats and birds\ndo not go well together. Cats like birds to eat you know, but then men\nlike chickens. If you do not want them here, we can do this. At midday,\nwhen the master\u2019s son lets the birds out for a bath, they sit a while\nin the sun to dry their feathers. When you see them come out, call\n\u2018Cluck, cluck,\u2019 and I will come and catch them or drive them away.\u201d\n\nWhen the time came for the birds to take their bath, the cat was\nasleep. The hen called loudly. The cat heard her and crept quietly to\nthe place where the birds were bathing.\n\nBut one of the birds saw the cat and said to her, \u201cMrs. Cat, what are\nyou trying to do? We know what the hen said to you about us last night.\nI heard her advise you to kill us or drive us away. Is this not true?\n\n\u201cThe old hen does not wish us to live here; but then the rats and mice\ndo not like you to live here either. I warn you not to put your paws on\nus. If you kill us, the master\u2019s boy will kill you, and he will kill\nand cook the hen. Do you know how much he loves us?\n\n\u201cEvery morning before the sun shines, he is up; and do you know where\nhe goes? He goes to the river to catch the baby swims (little fish) for\nus. He goes to the mountain and catches grasshoppers for us, and from\nthe fields he brings us seeds and rice.\n\n\u201cHe works hard for us. Sometimes he brings other boys here just to hear\nour songs. He spent much money for our cage and our gem-stone water\ndishes.\n\n\u201cEvery day the master asks his son, \u2018How are your birds, my son?\u2019\n\n\u201cOne day our brother would not eat food and the boy said to his father,\n\u2018What ails my bird, father? All the foods are here, but he will not\neat.\u2019\n\n\u201cThe father answered, \u2018I will call a doctor.\u2019\n\n\u201cAnd the doctor came and said, \u2018The bird has fever. Give him some\nDa-Wong-Sai and Tseng-Chu-Mi and he will be well soon.\u2019 The boy paid\nthe doctor for this; so you see how well he loves us.\n\n\u201cWhen we do not like to stay in the house he hangs us out in the trees\nso that we can talk with other birds.\n\n\u201cNow, Mrs. Cat, do you see how well we are cared for? Go back and tell\nthe old hen not to talk about us. Do not notice what she says against\nus, for if you kill us, as the hen wishes you to do, you will surely\nhave no life left in the world.\n\n\u201cYou see how cunning the hen is. She will not do the thing herself, but\nwants you to do it. That proves that she is your enemy as well as ours.\n\n\u201cOh, Mrs. Cat, do not be foolish. You have three little ones to care\nfor. If you lose your life by taking ours, who will care for your\nchildren? Will the hen do it? I think not.\u201d\n\nWhen the cat heard such wisdom from a little bird she said, \u201cWell!\nWell! Well! I think you are right,\u201d and went away.\n\n\n\nEe-Sze (Meaning): True friends will not ask you to do things they would\nnot do themselves.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE BOY WHO WANTED THE IMPOSSIBLE\n\n\u6b32\u6240\u4e0d\u80fd\u6b32\u8005\n\n\nTsing-Ching (Pure Gold) was four years old when his parents sent him to\na \u201cbaby school\u201d [14] for the first time and told him that the teacher\ncould tell him everything he would like to know.\n\nWhen he saw a queer bird flying around he asked his teacher, \u201cWhat kind\nof thing is that in the air?\u201d His teacher told him, \u201cA bird,\u201d and that\nto be a bird meant to fly around and sing in every place and make music\nfor the people.\n\nThe boy said, \u201cCan I not do it?\u201d His teacher said, \u201cYes, you can sing\nmusic for the people, but you can not fly unless you get wings.\u201d\n\nTsing-Ching replied, \u201cYes, I can do that, too. My grandmother told me\nabout a spirit with wings.\u201d\n\nHis teacher said, \u201cIf your grandmother told you that, you can try and\nsee. You may be a man with wings sometime.\u201d [15]\n\nJust then the servant girl, that his mother had sent, came to fetch him\nhome from school.\n\nWhen they reached the park by his home, Tsing-Ching said, \u201cLau-Mai, I\nwant that long ladder and a long stick.\u201d The nurse-girl did not know\nwhat he would do with them, but she finally had to give him both to\nkeep him from crying. She was afraid his mother would hear him cry and\nthat she would come out and scold her for not taking better care of the\nchild.\n\nAs he took the long ladder he said, \u201cNow I am going to be a bird.\u201d His\nnurse said, \u201cYou can not be a bird, Tsing-Ching. Birds fly. You can not\nfly. Why are you trying to climb up the ladder? That is not the way to\nbe a bird.\u201d\n\nLau-Mai helped him up two or three steps, when his mother called her to\ncome in and she left him there for a little time.\n\nHe climbed up, up, nine steps by himself\u2014and fell down. But he was not\nhurt, nor did he cry; he had no fear\u2014he thought of but one thing\u2014he was\ngoing to be a bird.\n\nSuddenly his mother came and saw him again trying to climb up the\nladder and asked, \u201cWhat are you doing, Tsing-Ching?\u201d\n\nHe answered, \u201cI want to be a bird; wait, I will try again. I know that\nbirds fly in the air, not on the ground. I can not fly on earth. If I\nget up high in the air, then I know I can fly.\u201d\n\nHis mother thought he wanted to climb up and get a bird; she looked all\naround and said, \u201cThere is no bird up there now.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut, Ah-Ma, [16] I want to be a bird.\u201d\n\nThe servant Lau-Mai came just then and explained to his mother. His\nmother said he was a foolish boy, and gave him food and sent him to\nschool again.\n\nIn two hours the teacher sent all the boys out to play. They ran to the\npond where the gold-fish were, for they liked to watch them swim in the\nwater.\n\nAfter exercise, they all went into the schoolroom and Tsing-Ching told\nhis teacher, \u201cI saw many goldfish swimming in the pond. Did you know\nthat, teacher? A man fed them rice and they all came out for him. They\nseemed so happy, they shook their tails and waved their fins and swam\nup and down and all around in the cool water. Oh, I should like to be a\nfish.\u201d\n\nHis teacher said, \u201cLearn lessons now.\u201d But Tsing-Ching could not study;\nhe could only think, think about the fish. Soon he asked that he might\ngo out to drink. Then he went to the pond and took off his clothes, but\nthe gardener saw him and asked, \u201cWhat are you doing, boy? This is\nschool-time.\u201d\n\n\u201cI want to be a fish,\u201d said Tsing-Ching.\n\nThe gardener thought he wanted to catch the fish and said, \u201cThe fish\nare for your eyes and not for your hands. Do not disturb them.\u201d\n\nTsing-Ching sat down and waited until the gardener went away. Then he\nstepped into the water and talked to the fish.\n\n\u201cI am going to be one of you now,\u201d he said. \u201cCome to me and show me how\nto swim with you.\u201d But they all hurried away.\n\nFor half an hour he splashed in the shallow water, trying to swim,\nuntil the teacher thought, \u201cWhere is Tsing-Ching?\u201d and sent a boy to\nsee. He found him in the pond and asked him to come into the\nschoolroom, saying the teacher would punish him if he did not.\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d said Tsing-Ching, \u201cI shall be a fish; I told the teacher I was\ngoing to be a fish.\u201d And so the boy went back and told the teacher, who\nhardly knew what to think.\n\nFinally he went out with a stick and asked, \u201cTsing-Ching, what are you\ndoing here? Do you know this is school-time? Do you know that you were\nallowed only to go out for a drink and not to stay here and play? You\nhave done wrong.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy, teacher, I told you that I wanted to be a fish,\u201d said\nTsing-Ching. \u201cI do not want books or exercises. I am going to be a fish\nand I will not go to school. Mother said you teach everything; now\nteach me to be a fish.\u201d\n\nHis teacher said, \u201cHow foolish you are, Tsing-Ching; you are a boy, a\nman. You can learn many things better than to be a fish. Come with me\nnow.\u201d\n\nThat night when Tsing-Ching was walking with his mother and nurse out\nby the water, he saw the summer moon shining in the lake.\n\n\u201cHow strange, Ah-Ma, the moon is under the lake! See, it raises the\nlake and shakes it all the time. I want it. What kind of a white ball\nis it?\u201d\n\nThen his mother told him that the moon was in the sky, not in the lake,\nand she explained and showed him. And when he saw the moon in the sky,\nhe said, \u201cI know that it is not the moon in the lake, for it shakes. It\nis not quiet like that one in the sky. It is a silver ball, I know.\u201d\n\nHe asked so many questions that his mother grew tired of answering and\nlet him ask unnoticed. Then he wandered away a little distance and\nthrew stones in the water. And the waters waved and the white ball\ndanced so prettily that he wanted it very much. He waded into the lake,\ndeeper, deeper, until he fell down. He screamed and swallowed the\nwater, and it took a long time to make him alive again, after his\nmother took him out of the lake.\n\nWhen the neighbors heard about it, they said, \u201cFoolish boy; not\nsatisfied to do the things he can\u2014he is always wanting things he can\nnot have.\u201d\n\nMany people in this world are like Tsing-Ching.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE BOY WHO BECAME A HSAO-TSZE [17]\n\n\u738b\u5b5d\u5b50\n\n\nThis is the true story of a boy who obeyed perfectly all his life the\nlaw of Confucius concerning honor to parents.\n\nFew have been able to do this. Among a people of many millions who have\nkept record over four thousand years, only twenty-four men have been\nfound worthy of the great honor of being called Hsao-Tsze.\n\nTwelve hundred years ago, in Ch\u00ea-Kiong Province, there lived a poor\nwidow and her son, Wong-Ziang. The father had died when Wong-Ziang was\na baby, and the time came when they had only their little home left and\nnot even one piece of silver to buy food with.\n\nSo the mother went to many places daily and asked food for herself and\nchild. For seven long years, every day in the cold rain or in the\nsunshine, this poor widow begged food and kept herself and child from\nstarving.\n\nShe was a good woman and never complained even to the heavens, and in\nher heart she said many times, \u201cNo mother should be sorrowful when she\nhas a good son. My boy is true without being taught. Many mothers have\nsons, but they are not as this one.\u201d\n\nWhen Wong-Ziang was fourteen years old, he said to his mother, \u201cAh Ma,\nI will seek work and we will have food. You must rest now.\u201d\n\nIn the morning early he went to the market place and asked work of many\npeople. At midday, when the laborers left the market place, they said,\n\u201cYou are too young to work here.\u201d\n\nAs he was hungry, he went to a merchant\u2019s house and asked food; and\nbecause he was a gentle boy and pleaded so earnestly, the merchant told\nhis cook to give him food. Wong-Ziang would not eat the food, but took\nit home to his mother.\n\nNinety times Wong-Ziang left home at sunrise. He sought work all day,\nand every night he took food home to his mother and comforted her with,\n\u201cI soon will find work, Ah Ma. One man says he will want me soon; or, a\nman told me of yet another place to seek work,\u201d and in many other ways\nhe comforted his mother.\n\nWhen he gave her the food he brought, she would say, \u201cYou eat, too.\u201d\nBut he would always answer, \u201cI have had mine; you eat first.\u201d And when\nshe had finished eating, he would eat of what was left.\n\nOne time Wong-Ziang\u2019s mother fell sick. He said, \u201cI will go for the\ndoctor.\u201d But his mother said, \u201cI have no silver. Wait and you will soon\nhave work. I think I shall be well then.\u201d\n\nBut Wong-Ziang ran to the city of Nim-Chu and asked the doctor to come\nto his mother. He said to him as they went to his mother\u2019s house:\n\n\u201cMy mother did not get up at sunrise. She is weak and sick and can not\neat food. She does not want a doctor, as we have no silver, but I\nbelieve you will wait and, when I get work, I will pay you.\u201d The doctor\nsaid, \u201cI always help the poor when I can, and will not charge you this\ntime.\u201d\n\nWhen they reached the widow\u2019s home, the doctor made the examination of\nthe tongue, the eyes, and the pulse. He then said, \u201cShe is very weak. I\nwill leave medicine, but it is better that she eat good food that she\nlikes. Twice in five days, she should have a carp fish boiled in rice\nwine. But it is winter and the river is frozen. I know not how you will\nget that fish,\u201d and then he went away.\n\nWong-Ziang gave his mother the medicine, and she asked, \u201cWhat did the\ndoctor say about me?\u201d\n\n\u201cHe said you needed a carp fish cooked in rice wine so that you may be\nstrong,\u201d answered Wong-Ziang. \u201cIt is very easy for me to find one. I am\ngoing now to the river.\u201d\n\nBut the mother said, \u201cNot now, my son. Wait until spring. The river is\ncovered with ice.\u201d\n\n\u201cI will see,\u201d said Wong-Ziang; and he put on his fishing clothes. [18]\n\nHis mother said, \u201cI fear you will die, if you go into the water.\u201d\n\n\u201cI will see first if there are any fish,\u201d said he.\n\nWhen Wong-Ziang reached the river, he saw it was covered with ice. He\nmade a great hole in the ice and went in, and after swimming and diving\nfor some time, he caught a fish for his mother.\n\nBut his breath almost left him in the cold water, and when he came out,\nhe could not stand on the ice.\n\nHe fell down, and his clothes froze to the ice with the net and the\nfish he had caught.\n\n\u201cHe is gone a long time,\u201d thought his mother. She called a servant girl\nwho was passing, and said, \u201cAh Moi, will you go down to the River\nChing-Ki, and see if my boy is there?\u201d\n\nAh Moi went and saw the boy and the fish in the net lying frozen on the\nice together.\n\nShe called, \u201cWong-Ziang,\u201d but when no answer came back to her, she\nthought, \u201cHe is dead,\u201d and ran in fear. But she met a farmer who was\nriding a cow and she told him, \u201cWong-Ziang is dead on the ice.\u201d The\nfarmer left his cow and went with her to see.\n\nThe farmer took off his own coat and wrapped it around the boy. He\ncarried him in his arms and said to the servant, \u201cI think he is not\ndead. Take the fish and net at once to Wong-Ziang\u2019s mother.\u201d\n\nIn an hour Wong-Ziang came to life again. He arose and cooked the fish\nfor his mother. And in fifteen days she was well.\n\n\n\nSoon after this, Wong-Ziang was given work in the next village as cook\nfor a rich professor who had many pupils.\n\nOne day he went to the wilderness to cut wood. His mother knew that her\nboy worked hard, and so she went with him to help and they worked until\nsunset.\n\nSuddenly a small tiger came out of the forest towards the mother, and\nfrom fear she became as one dead. Wong-Ziang screamed and made a great\nnoise. He threw his clothes at the beast and it ran away. Then he\ncarried his mother home, and the neighbors who had watched him all his\nlife said, \u201cWong-Ziang will become a Hsao-Tsze if he is always like\nthis.\u201d\n\nWong-Ziang had seen twenty-one years when his mother died, and he had\nnever left her for one day in all his life. He was liked by his\nteachers, schoolmates, and neighbors, for they said, \u201cWe can learn a\ngreat lesson from Wong-Ziang who has loved and honored his mother\nperfectly.\u201d\n\nWhile his mother was living, Wong-Ziang worked for her and spent little\ntime or money in study; but after she died, he studied hard. When his\nwork in the professor\u2019s kitchen was done each day, he always sat\noutside the schoolroom door where he heard the teacher giving lessons\nto his pupils. [19]\n\nFor seven years he studied in this way before the teacher, Liao-Tsai,\nknew; but one day he found out what Wong-Ziang had been doing. In time\nhe came to love him as his own son and he asked him, \u201cWould you like to\nbe my Chi-tsze (son by adoption)?\u201d\n\nAnd Wong-Ziang said, \u201cI would, but I am poor and unlearned, and you are\nrich and honored. It could not be.\u201d\n\nBut his teacher said, \u201cI want you in my school. I have had many pupils,\nbut none that have worked and learned as you have. I have known many\nsons, but none of them served and honored his parents so faithfully.\nThink about this two or three days and then give me your answer.\u201d\n\nAfter three days Wong-Ziang decided: and he came to Liao-Tsai, his\nteacher, and, kneeling down before him, he bowed his head low. And\nafter this time he was as the professor\u2019s own son.\n\nIn sixteen years, Wong-Ziang graduated from the great University with\nhighest honors. He had studied all the books of the Chinese schools and\nwas now a Han-Ling (Ph.D.).\n\nHe served his nation and emperor wisely and had a high state position\nfor more than twenty years. The people called him Zien-Zan before the\nemperor. But when he came home to his native province where people had\nknown his deeds all his life, they bowed their heads low in affection,\nand called him, \u201cHsao-Tsze.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE HUNTER, THE SNIPE, AND THE BIVALVE\n\n\u7375\u8005\u7368\u5f97\n\n\nYung-Moi was one of the very wise men of China. He had lived in the\nmountains and studied the books of Confucius for twenty years, and\nafterwards he taught others.\n\nHe taught school for ten years, and because of his wisdom had many\npupils\u2014over two thousand in all. He was now sixty years old and greatly\nrespected by many people.\n\nOne day he thought he would give a party for his scholars. So he sent\nthem all word and asked that each one repeat a story at the party.\n\nAfter he had invited his guests, he thought, \u201cI, too, must have a story\nready for to-morrow night. What shall it be?\u201d And he walked down to the\nriver, thinking.\n\nThere he saw two creatures in the edge of the river fighting. One was\nthe great bivalve; [20] the other was a snipe that had been hunting for\nfish in the river.\n\nThey fought long and hard, until a hunter with a gun and net passed by\nand saw them. He made no noise and came close, close, but they were so\nbusy trying to kill each other that they could not see him. So he\ncaught them both and took them home in his net.\n\nYung-Moi, the wise teacher, thought deeply and said to himself, \u201cThere\nis meaning in all this,\u201d and he walked slowly back to his schoolroom.\n\nHe sat down at his desk and thought, and he stirred the ink in his\nink-dish, not knowing what he did.\n\nThen he wrote this story and said: \u201cIn my mind this is a strange thing.\nThe snipe is a fine creature in the air. He has two wings and has great\npower to do for himself.\n\n\u201cSmall fishes swim in the water and the snipe can take any one he\nwants, but he can not live in the home of the bivalve, or try to take\nlife away from him without perishing himself.\n\n\u201cIf he had power to go under the water and live, there would be no\nsmall fishes in the river, and if he were big, like the eagle or bear,\nthere would soon be no fishes in the world. I am glad the Creator made\nhim a small creature and not too powerful.\n\n\u201cThe bivalve\u2014he has great power to live under the water. Small swimming\nthings can not escape if they pass by his door, but if he could move\nabout like other fishes with his great power and his appetite for many\nfish, I think the mother of all fishes could not make enough for his\ngreedy mouth, for now he opens his doors all day long and takes in the\ncreatures that swim by.\n\n\u201cI had fish from the river last night for my evening meal, but I think\nthey never passed the bivalve\u2019s house or he would have had them for his\nsupper.\n\n\u201cWhen the bivalve and snipe fought together, each one thought, \u2018I have\ngreat power; I want what you have, and I will kill you and get it for\nmyself.\u2019\n\n\u201cThe snipe saw the bivalve\u2019s door open and he thought, \u2018What nice white\nmeat; I will have it,\u2019 and he picked at it. The bivalve shut his doors\ntight and held the snipe so that he could not get away.\n\n\u201cAnd they fought; each one trying to kill the other, until the hunter\ncame and caught them both. Then the hunter took the snipe and the\nbivalve home and said to his wife, \u2018We will have a good supper\nto-night.\u2019 And his wife looked and was very glad to have two such\nsavory things at one time. The hunter said, \u2018Cook the bivalve well\ndone, and we will put some Tung-Ku [21] and Cho-Chen-Cho [22] with it.\nSave the shells and put them away carefully to dry, and I will sell\nthem to the man who makes furniture, for inlaying his tables.\n\n\u201c\u2018The pearls that were in this bivalve will bring me much silver from\nthe jeweler. I will ask my mother to come here for supper. The bivalve\nis enough for us all, and my mother will be glad. She has never before\neaten of a bivalve.\n\n\u201c\u2018The snipe, I will not kill. I will keep him to show to my son and\nnephew. Give him rice to eat and some water to drink, and keep him in\nthe cage. To-morrow I will give him some fish and in a few days I will\ntake him to the school teacher. Then, when I train him to sing, I will\ntake him to the market place and sell him for much silver.\u2019\u201d\n\n\n\nAt the party on the evening of the next day, all the pupils told\nstories. At last the teacher repeated the story of the fight between\nthe swimming and flying creatures.\n\n\u201cNow, I will ask you a question,\u201d he said to the pupils. \u201cIf the snipe\nflies in the air, can man catch him? And if the bivalve stays under the\ncave in the river, can man injure him?\u201d\n\nAnd the pupils all said, \u201cNo, teacher.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, it was sad that the snipe and the bivalve were caught yesterday.\nCan you tell me why?\u201d\n\n\u201cWe do not know,\u201d said the scholars.\n\nAnd the teacher said, \u201cThey are happy and powerful creatures when they\ndo no harm to each other. The snipe flies in the air, the bivalve swims\nin his home, the sea, and each has happiness according to his kind.\n\n\u201cNow you see these two creatures fought together, the snipe and the\nbivalve, and they did not succeed by fighting. The hunter is the only\none that succeeded.\n\n\u201cIt is so with the three nations now at war. They are like the hunter,\nthe snipe, and the bivalve. They ought to live in peace. They are lost\nwhen they fight among themselves.\u201d\n\nThen Yung-Moi drew a picture of the warring countries for his pupils.\n\n\n                    \u25a0           \u25a0           \u25a0\n               (YOT) ONE   (YEE) TWO   (SARM) THREE [23]\n\n\n\u201cOne and Three represent two nations at war with each other. One asks\nTwo\u2019s permission to pass an army through his country that he may fight\nThree. While the army of One is away from home, the people get in a\nfight among themselves and civil war follows. Number Two takes\nadvantage of the situation and in the absence of Number One\u2019s army (who\nis trying to overpower Three), conquers Number One easily. Number Two\nthen owns the nations One and Two, and with this added strength goes to\nthe land of Number Three and conquers him, so that all three countries\nnow belong to Number Two.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE MULE AND THE LION\n\n(LII-TSZE and SII-TSZE)\n\n\u9a3e\u7345\u8a2a\u732a\n\n\nOne night the lion was very hungry, but as the creatures of the\nwilderness knew and feared him even from afar, he could not find food.\nSo he went to visit the young mule that lived near the farmer\u2019s house,\nand when he saw her he smiled blandly and asked, \u201cWhat do you eat, fair\nLii, to make you so sleek and fat? What makes your hair so smooth and\nbeautiful? I think your master gives you tender fresh grass and fat\nyoung pig to eat.\u201d\n\nThe mule answered, \u201cNo, I am fat because I am gentle. My hair is\nbeautiful because I do not fight with other creatures. But why do you\ncome here, Sii? Are you hungry? I believe you are seeking for food.\u201d\n\nThe lion said, \u201cOh, no, I am not hungry. I only walk around to get the\ncool, fresh air. And then the night is very beautiful. The moon hangs\nup in the clear sky with the stars and makes a soft light, and so I\ncame to visit you. Would you not like to take a walk with me? I will\ntake you to visit my friend, the pig. I never go to his house alone; I\nalways take a friend with me.\u201d\n\nThe mule asked, \u201cShall we go to any other place?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d answered the lion, \u201cI think we will go to visit another friend\nof mine who lives not far away.\u201d\n\nThen the mule asked his mother, \u201cWill you allow me to go with Sii to\nsee his friend?\u201d\n\n\u201cWho is his friend?\u201d asked the mother.\n\n\u201cThe farmer\u2019s pig,\u201d said the mule.\n\n\u201cI think it is no harm if you go only there,\u201d said the mother mule.\n\u201cBut you must not go anywhere else with Sii. The hunter is looking for\nhim, I hear, and you must be careful. Do not trust him fully, for I\nfear he will tempt you to go to some other place or into some wrong\nthing. If I allow you to go, you must come home before midnight. The\nmoon will not be gone then and you can see to find your way.\u201d\n\nSo the lion and the mule went to visit the pig who lived in a house in\nthe farmer\u2019s yard. But as soon as the pig saw the lion, he called out\nin a loud voice to his mother.\n\nThe lion said, \u201cHe is afraid of me. I will hide and you may go in\nfirst.\u201d\n\nWhen the pig saw that the mule was alone, he thought the lion had gone.\nHe opened his door wide and was very friendly to the mule, saying,\n\u201cCome in.\u201d\n\nBut the lion jumped from his hiding place and caught the pig as he came\nto the door. The pig called to his mother in great fear. And the mule\nbegged the lion, saying, \u201cLet the poor little creature go free.\u201d\n\nBut the lion said, \u201cNo, indeed, I have many pigs at my house. It is\nbetter for him to go with me.\u201d\n\nThen the lion carried the pig, while the mule followed. Soon they came\nto where a fine looking dog lay on some hay behind a net. The lion did\nnot seem to see the net, for he dropped the pig and tried to catch the\ndog who cried loudly for mercy.\n\nBut the lion said to the foolish mule, \u201cSee how rude the dog is to us.\nWe came to visit him and he makes a loud noise and tries to call the\nhunter so that he will drive us away. I have never been so insulted.\nCome here, Lii-Tsze, at once and help me!\u201d\n\nThe mule went to the lion and the net fell and caught them both. At\nsunrise the hunter came and found the mule and the lion in his net. The\nmule begged earnestly and said, \u201cHunter, you know me and you know my\nmother. We are your friends and we do no wrong. Set me free, oh hunter,\nset me free!\u201d\n\nThe hunter said, \u201cNo, I will not set you free. You may be good, but you\nare in bad company and must take what it brings. I will take you and\nthe lion both to the market place and sell you for silver. That is my\nright. I am a hunter. If you get in my net, that is your business. If I\ncatch you, that is my business.\u201d\n\n\n\nEe-Sze (Meaning): Bad company is a dangerous thing for man or beast.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE FA-NIEN-TS\u2019ING AND THE M\u00d6N-TIEN-SING\n\n\u6eff\u5929\u661f\u4e0d\u5982\u842c\u5e74\u9751\n\n\nConfucius had labored teaching the people righteousness for many\nforgotten moons. One day he said to himself:\n\n\u201cI have taught many years and I will now rest a while.\u201d He thought for\na few days and said, \u201cWhere shall I go to find rest?\u201d Then he spoke to\nTsze-Lu, Yen-Yuen, and Tsze-Kong, his faithful pupils, saying, \u201cI have\nbeen thinking that I would now rest for three moons and visit the\nTai-San Mountain, but I do not wish to go alone. I should like you to\ngo with me. Where on the mountain is the best place, do you think?\u201d\n\n\u201cOn the southwest side where the sun shines warm and the wind does not\nblow cold,\u201d answered Tsze-Kong. And Tsze-Lu, Tsze-Kong, and Yen-Yuen\nwent to their own rooms and planned the journey.\n\nAfter ten days Confucius and his pupils went to the Tai-San Mountain to\nrest for the three moons; but even there his pupils studied, for they\ntook their books with them.\n\nAs Confucius walked on the Tai-San Mountain he said, \u201cHow great and\nbeautiful are the things made by the Creator; even the trees, bushes,\nand flowers are beyond man\u2019s understanding.\u201d Then he went to the temple\nand saw the images of honored men, and when he looked at the face of\nDai-Yee, the Just, he said, \u201cYou are very great. We remember and honor\nyou, and other generations yet to come will remember and honor you.\u201d\n\nWhen he had walked another half-mile, he grew tired and sat down under\nthe Fa-Nien-Ts\u2019ing tree, and soon he slept.\n\nSuddenly he heard a noise. He awoke thinking his pupils had come, but\nseeing no man he lay down again to sleep. Once more he heard the same\nnoise, and looking upward he saw the M\u00f6n-Tien-Sing and the\nFa-Nien-Ts\u2019ing trees looking into each other\u2019s faces; but they were not\nhappy. The M\u00f6n-Tien-Sing\u2019s face was distorted with anger, and in great\nwrath she said to the Fa-Nien-Ts\u2019ing, \u201cIf I were the Creator, I would\nnot allow you to live. A year and a year passes by and you do not grow.\nYou eat much food and you have more earth than I, and still you do not\ngrow. I never heard that you did any good thing since you were born,\nand it is said you have lived here five hundred years. Your branches\nare crooked and your bark is rough.\n\n\u201cYou are not even good to look upon. Do you think the children of men\ncare for you? No, for you have neither flowers nor fruit. If people sit\nunder your shade when the wind blows hard, I should think your sharp,\nugly leaves would fall on them and stick them.\n\n\u201cIt is a strange thing that the woodcutter does not chop you\ndown\u2014useless thing. If I were the Creator, I would not allow the sun to\nshine on you, nor would I give you rain to drink. I would cause the\nwind to blow hard until you fell down dead.\n\n\u201cYou see I have the sweetest of flowers and the people all like me. One\nday two women passed by here and one of them said, \u2018M\u00f6n-Tien-Sing, how\nI wish that I might take you with me. You are so beautiful, but I fear\nyou do not like me. Three times I have gathered your flowers for my\nhair, but I was careless and passed by a bush and it did but touch them\nwhen their lovely petals all fell to the earth. I wish that I might\ntake you to my garden, and that you would grow there and open your\nbeautiful flowers every third moon forever.\u2019\n\n\u201cMy name is M\u00f6n-Tien-Sing which means Flowers-every-three-moons. If you\ndo not know another meaning it has, I will tell you.\n\n\u201cWhen you look in the sky on a summer night do you know how many stars\nare there? Even man can not count a clear sky filled with shining\nstars. I am M\u00f6n-Tien-Sing. M\u00f6n means full; Tien means heaven; and Sing\nmeans stars:\u2014\u2018sky filled with stars\u2019\u2014that is my name. I grow very fast.\nEvery three moons I bear a thousand and a thousand flowers. I do not\nneed servants to care for me, for I grow everywhere. Even the chickens\nand birds like me. They come to me and eat my seeds and grow fat.\n\n\u201cIf I were the Creator, the M\u00f6n-Tien-Sing would grow everywhere in all\nthe world, and fill the earth with its sweetness, but oh, I wish I\ncould go away from you. I do not like even to see you, and here I must\nstand always by your side. Your branches are too strong; for when the\nwind blows, they come close and hurt me and spoil my beautiful flowers.\nI will pray the Creator to bring a woodcutter and cut you down\nto-day\u2014useless, evil thing.\u201d\n\nThe Fa-Nien-Ts\u2019ing did not answer, though he bowed his head in shame.\nHe knew well that he was ugly and that his leaves were sharp and his\nbark rough, but he said to himself, \u201cI know in my heart that some day,\nsome one will like me, too. For the Creator made me and he surely made\nme for good. I will keep patient and wait.\u201d\n\nIn about three moons the cold days came and all things were frozen. The\nrivers stood still, the flowers were no longer seen, the trees and\nshrubs threw all their leaves to the ground. But the Fa-Nien-Ts\u2019ing\nheld his head up and smiled bravely, and he kept his leaves and they\ngrew green and green. Then he said to himself, \u201cThe cool wind is good\nfor me. The frost does me no harm. I feel better. This is my happy\ntime, for the people like to have green in their houses now. To-day\nthey came to the mountain and they found no other thing that was yet\ngreen but my leaves.\n\n\u201cA young man was about to be married. He could find no flowers. So he\ntook some of my leaves and branches to put in his house. The birds come\nto me for shelter from the cold wind and snow. They say the\nFa-Nien-Ts\u2019ing is a good home for them.\n\n\u201cThe winter is cold, cold every day, but I grow greener and greener.\nThe woodcutter comes and stands by my side and says that I keep the\ncold wind away from him. I know the Creator made me for good.\u201d\n\n\n\nThen Confucius awoke. He looked up, and he looked down, and he looked\nall about him. There was no living thing near except the Fa-Nien-Ts\u2019ing\nand the M\u00f6n-Tien-Sing, and he said:\n\n\u201cIt was a dream, but surely I heard the M\u00f6n-Tien-Sing trying to quarrel\nwith the Fa-Nien-Ts\u2019ing. I know that the things of the world have deep\nmeaning, and this is my lesson: I would not be as the M\u00f6n-Tien-Sing,\nbut I wish to be like the Fa-Nien-Ts\u2019ing.\u201d\n\nHe arose and laid his hand gently on the Fa-Nien-Ts\u2019ing and said, \u201cThe\ntime is long that you stand here, patient one. The cold heart of winter\ndoes not change your nature more than it does that of birds, beasts,\nmen, or even your enemy, the M\u00f6n-Tien-Sing.\n\n\u201cThe cold weather makes you better, for you grow green as the\nspringtime, and there is no other tree, bush, or flower which can do\nthis. When the frost of winter comes, where are the flowers, where are\nthe leaves, where are all the growing things of beauty? Where is the\ngrass, where is the green of the field? They are gone. The first cold\nwintry wind of adversity takes them one by one, but you alone can\nwithstand sorrow and grow even more beautiful.\n\n\u201cYour life is a lesson to me. I am serving the king and serving the\npeople, but there are few who like me now. Three kings have tried to\nkill me, though my doctrine is to serve the world and help every one.\n\n\u201cBut kings will not listen to my teaching, and my brothers try to drive\nme away, as the M\u00f6n-Tien-Sing wished to drive away the Fa-Nien-Ts\u2019ing.\nFor four days I went without food, and many were the enemies around and\nagainst me at that time when the king banished me. But I know that it\nis my duty to live and teach in the world, although it is winter for me\nand the cold winds of adversity blow and the hearts of my people seem\nhard and cold like rocks of ice. I hope I will be as the\nFa-Nien-Ts\u2019ing, and stand firmly on the mountain of righteousness\nforever, that I, Confucius, may do good to a wintry world.\n\n\u201cI would not be as the M\u00f6n-Tien-Sing. It is covered in the morning with\nthe flowers of beauty which it drops before the evening. It is\nbeautiful, for an hour, but is frail beyond all of its kind. It bears\nno fruit and its flowers last but a day, while the Fa-Nien-Ts\u2019ing is\nstrong of heart and mind, though a world is against him.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE BODY THAT DESERTED THE STOMACH\n\n\u8eab\u4e0d\u9858\u990a\u80c3\n\n\nMan\u2019s body is a perfect and wonderful thing. His hands are strong to\ndo; his feet are strong to walk; his nose judges whether things are\ngood to eat; his ears hear clearly; his eyes help him to see all the\nthings of the world and to study books; his brain can think great\nthoughts. And so we call the body of man a perfect thing.\n\nBut one day the different parts of man\u2019s body quarreled among\nthemselves about the work. Many complaints were brought against the\nstomach. The hands and feet said, \u201cWe work all day and yet we are\nnothing. Do you know whom we work for?\u201d\n\nThe eyes said, \u201cWe find many chickens, fish, eggs, and much rice and\ntea for the stomach. He takes all and does no work for it. He does not\neven think. And though he never does anything for us, we are always\nworking for him.\u201d\n\nThen they all agreed to refuse to work longer for the stomach. They\nsaid, \u201cTo-morrow we will tell the heart and have him judge [24] who is\nto be blamed.\u201d\n\nSo the next day the tongue told the brain about it, and the brain said,\n\u201cI will see the judge to-night.\u201d\n\nWhen the heart heard the story he said, \u201cYes, you are right. If all of\nyou lie down and refuse to help the stomach; if you do not give him any\nrice or meat for food, or any tea for drink, he will learn then that he\ncan not live without you.\u201d\n\nIn a little time the stomach wanted food and said to the hands, \u201cGive\nme a piece of fish, some rice, and a cup of tea.\u201d The hands were quiet\nand said nothing.\n\nThen the stomach said to the feet, \u201cWill you go out and have Men-Yen\nbring me a bowl of chop-suey-meen? [25] I am hungry.\u201d\n\nThe feet answered, \u201cNo, sir, we will not work for you any more.\u201d And\nthey lay down.\n\nThe stomach cried for food, but all said, \u201cWe do not care; we will not\nwork for him.\u201d\n\nAfter a while the eyes found they could not see well; and in the\ntheater hall next door the drums drummed hard, but the ears could not\nhear. The heart-judge said, \u201cHow is it now with the stomach?\u201d The brain\nanswered, \u201cWe are not working for him, nor helping him any more, and I\nbelieve he is going to die. I fear that I, too, will die and that all\nthe others will die. I do not believe we have done right in deserting\nthe stomach. Do you not think it best to tell the feet to go out and\nbring the stomach some chop-suey-meen? If he had that, he might help us\nagain. We shall all surely die unless we have his aid.\u201d\n\nBut the unwise judge said, \u201cLet him get his own food; let him do his\nwork for himself.\u201d\n\n\u201cHe can not do that,\u201d said the brain. \u201cHe lives in a place with great\nwalls around him, so he can not get out. The hands and the feet have\nalways brought his food to him.\u201d\n\nThe judge said, \u201cHas he spoken about it to-day?\u201d\n\nAnd the brain answered, \u201cNo.\u201d\n\nSo they agreed to leave the stomach to himself one day longer.\n\nBut that night they were all found dead together, for they could not\nlive without each other.\n\n\n\nThis fable was told by the Chinese general, Tsii, to the Chinese\nemperor, about twelve hundred years ago. The emperor had been angry at\na province of his own people and wished to send this general, with\nsoldiers, to kill them. But the general would not go, and in his\nargument with the emperor he used this fable to illustrate his reasons\nfor objection and to show the necessity of each part to all. This fable\nwas translated into Japanese in 1891 and the Japanese have added the\nfollowing Ee-sze (meaning):\n\nThe stomach means the emperor. The hands, eyes, feet, all parts of the\nbody, represent the people. Again, the stomach is like a mother, the\nother parts being the children.\n\nSo each one of the people must do something for his nation and Emperor.\nEach child must do something for the family and the mother. These\nthings must be, if the nation is to be powerful, or if the family is to\nbe strong and united.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE PROUD FOX AND THE CRAB\n\n\u50b2\u72d0\u8fb1\u87f9\n\n\nOne day a fox said to a crab, \u201cCrawling thing, did you ever run in all\nyour life?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said the crab, \u201cI run very often from the mud to the grass and\nback to the river.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, shame,\u201d said the fox, \u201cthat is no distance to run. How many feet\nand legs have you? I have only four. Why, if I had as many feet as you\nhave, I would run at least six times as fast as you do. Did you know\nthat you are really a very slow, stupid creature? Though I have only\nfour feet I run ten times as far as you do. I never heard of any one\nwith so many feet as you have, running so slowly.\u201d\n\nThe crab said, \u201cWould you like to run a race with a stupid creature\nlike me? I will try to run as fast as you. I know I am small, so\nsuppose we go to the scales and see how much heavier you are. As you\nare ten times larger than I, of course you will have to run ten times\nfaster.\n\n\u201cAnother reason why you can run so fast is because you have such a fine\ntail and hold it so high. If you would allow me to put it down, I do\nnot think you could run any faster than I.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, very well,\u201d said the fox, contemptuously, \u201cdo as you like, and\nstill the race will be so easy for me that I will not even need to try.\nYour many legs and your stupid head do not go very well together. Now,\nif I had my sense and all of your legs, no creature in the forest could\noutrun me. As it is, there are none that can outwit me. I am known as\nthe sharp-witted. Even man says, \u2018Qui-kwat-wui-lai\u2019 (sly as a fox). So\ndo what you will, stupid one.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf you will let me tie your beautiful tail down so it will stay,\u201d said\nthe crab, \u201cI am sure I can win the race.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, no, you can not,\u201d said the fox. \u201cBut I will prove to even your\nstupid, slow brain that it will make no difference. Now, how do you\nwish that I should hold my tail?\u201d\n\nSaid the crab, \u201cIf you will allow me to hang something on your tail to\nhold it down, I am sure you can not run faster than I.\u201d\n\n\u201cDo as you like,\u201d said the fox.\n\n\u201cAllow me to come nearer,\u201d said the crab, \u201cand when I have it fastened\nto your tail, I will say \u2018Ready!\u2019 Then you are to start.\u201d\n\nSo the crab crawled behind and caught the fox\u2019s tail with his pincers\nand said, \u201cReady!\u201d The fox ran and ran until he was tired. And when he\nstopped, there was the crab beside him.\n\n\u201cWhere are you now?\u201d said the crab. \u201cI thought you were to run ten\ntimes faster than I. You are not even ahead of me with all your\nboasting.\u201d\n\nThe fox, panting for breath, hung his head in shame and went away where\nhe might never see the crab again.\n\n\n\nEe-Sze (Meaning): A big, proud, boastful mouth is a worse thing for a\nman than it is for a fox.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA LITTLE CHINESE ROSE\n\n\u5c0f\u6885\u5973\n\n\nOne day Mai-Qwai (Little Rose) ran home angry to her mother saying,\n\u201cM\u00fc-Tsing, I do not want my name to be Rose any longer. I was in\nDun-Qure\u2019s garden just now, and she asked me, \u2018Which flower do you like\nbest of all in our garden?\u2019 and I said I liked my name-flower best.\n\n\u201cThen they all laughed and said, \u2018We do not. Do you not see the thorns\non the roses? When we pass near we tear our dresses. When we touch them\nthe blood flows from our hands. No, we do not like the roses. The baby\ncow does not like them either. They stick her nose when she tries to\neat, and even mother can not pick them without scissors. Once when she\nhad a large bunch of roses, little sister tried to get one and it stuck\nher hands and face so that she cried many hours. Other flowers do not\nmake trouble like that, and we do not see why any one likes the rose\nbest. We think it very foolish to like a trouble flower and be named\nfor it.\u2019\n\n\u201cI do not like my name-flower any more, M\u00fc-Tsing, and I do not want to\nbear its name.\u201d\n\n\u201cDo not cry, dear child,\u201d said her mother, \u201cand I will tell you some\nthings about the rose. Do you like rose sugar?\u201d [26]\n\n\u201cYes, very much,\u201d Rose answered, her face growing bright.\n\n\u201cAnd rose oil?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, yes, M\u00fc-Tsing.\u201d\n\n\u201cI thought you did not like the rose. So you ought not to like the good\nthings it makes.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut, M\u00fc-Tsing, tell me why did the rose god make the rose grow with so\nmany thorns? Other flowers are not like that.\u201d\n\n\u201cListen, dear child. If the rose tree were like other trees and still\nhad its beautiful flowers, I think we should never have any for\nourselves. They would be too easily gathered. The rose god was very\nwise and put thorns all around his beautiful flower. When he made it,\nhe gave it an odor so sweet that all the gods stopped working on the\nday it was finished. The thorns mean, Honor the rose which grows\nforever. The cows can not touch it, and the pigs never go near it, and\ncareless children or wasteful people can not destroy it. Do you see,\ndear, why the rose must have thorns?\u201d\n\nThe next morning Rose found in her room a beautiful new rose pillow\nmade of the sweet-smelling petals. When she laid her head on this\nfragrant pillow she said, \u201cM\u00fc-Tsing, I do not wish to change my name.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE EAGLE AND THE RICE BIRDS\n\n\u7269\u5fc5\u6b78\u539f\n\n\nOnce a mother eagle had a nest with three eggs in it and she was very\nhappy while waiting for her three children to come from the eggs. But\none day, two schoolboys, named Jeung-Po and Hui-Yin, who knew of her\nnest, talked together and one of them said, \u201cDid you know that the\neagle likes the rice birds?\u201d And the other boy replied, \u201cNo, she does\nnot, for I have seen her drive them away.\u201d\n\nBut the one named Jeung-Po said, \u201cNot only can I make an eagle like a\nrice bird, but I can make them change natures and live with each\nother.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou can not do that,\u201d answered Hui-Yin.\n\n\u201cWill you give me a piece of silver if I can make the eagle like the\nrice birds and take them as friends?\u201d\n\nAnd Hui-Yin said, \u201cYes, I will give you a piece of silver if you do\nthat, but I know you can not.\u201d And so they clapped hands. [27]\n\nSo Jeung-Po went his way hunting, hunting many birds, until finally he\nfound a rice bird\u2019s nest with five eggs in it. He took three of the\neggs and put them in the mother eagle\u2019s nest and then he took the three\neggs from the eagle\u2019s nest to the nest of the rice bird.\n\nIn twenty-five days the eagle\u2019s nest had three baby birds in it and\nJeung-Po was glad. One day he heard the mother eagle saying to her\nthree babies:\n\n\u201cI do not know why your feathers are not as mine, and your voices are\nso different and you are such very little things. I will go and ask my\noldest son to come here to-morrow, and see if he can tell me why you\nare so.\u201d\n\nOn the next day the eagle\u2019s son came to visit his mother, and he said,\n\u201cAh-Ma, I am glad to see my three little brothers, but their faces are\nnot like yours or mine.\u201d\n\n\u201cI know that what you say is true,\u201d said the eagle mother. \u201cI wished\nyou to come, so that we might talk of this strange thing. You are my\nchild, and they are mine, but they are not like you and me.\u201d\n\n\u201cI will see what they eat,\u201d said the eagle son. Then he gave them a\npiece of meat, but they could not eat it.\n\n\u201cThey want rice all the time,\u201d the eagle mother told him. \u201cThey will\nnot eat meat.\u201d The mystery was so great that the eagles could not\nunderstand.\n\nSoon the strange nestlings were flying with the eagle mother. One day\nshe took them to a pleasant place to play, and on their way home they\npassed a rice bird who called to them. The mother eagle said, \u201cDo not\ngo with him. Come with me.\u201d But the little ones would not listen. And\nwhen the rice bird said, \u201cChi-Chi,\u201d and flew down to a rice field, the\nthree little ones left the eagle mother and went with the rice bird.\n\nThe eagle mother called many times, but her strange children would not\ncome to her. Then she said to the rice bird, \u201cWhy did my children\nfollow your call and not mine? How did you teach them in one breath\nwhat I have not been able to teach them in all their lives?\u201d\n\nAnd the rice-bird father said, \u201cThey are not your children. They belong\nto the rice-bird mother. She is coming now; see for yourself.\u201d\n\nSoon sixteen rice birds flew near and the eagle mother saw that they\nwere all like her children. The rice bird said, \u201cYou see, it is as I\ntold you.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut they must be my children,\u201d said the eagle mother. \u201cI can not\nunderstand this, for I never had children like them before. My other\nchildren were like me and they never behaved in this way. But I will\ntake them home again and feed them, and when they grow older they may\nbecome like me and the others of my family.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt will never be so,\u201d said the rice bird. \u201cI am sure of that. You need\nnot hope that these children will ever be eagles. You see they do not\neat meat, they eat rice. They know the rice bird\u2019s call without being\ntaught. They do not speak the same dialect that you speak, nor sing the\nsame songs. They are surely rice birds and you can not keep them longer\nin your home.\u201d\n\nThe eagle mother tried again and again to call her children and they\nonly said, \u201cChic, chic,\u201d which meant that they would not come. She\nwaited long, but they refused to go with her. Then she chided the rice\nbirds and said, \u201cYou are a bad company, and you have tempted my\nchildren to join you. Why do you not tell them to come home with me,\ntheir mother? If you do not cease your evil actions, I shall eat you or\ndrive you away.\u201d\n\nThe eagle mother flew away alone to the mountain, and she sat on a\ngreat rock and waited long for her children to come home.\n\nThe night came, but her little ones did not return. In her heart the\neagle mother knew they were lost to her. All the dark night she cried\naloud in her grief. In the morning she hunted long, but she could not\nfind them. She said to herself:\n\n\u201cThis is a strange and dreadful thing that has come to me. I remember\nthat I once heard a quarrel-bird say that some of her children had left\nher in this same way, and she believed some bad boy had changed her\neggs. For she had six yellow children in her nest, and when they could\nfly they went away with the yellow song birds. She found her own\nchildren one day in a camphor tree. I wish that I might find my own\nchildren.\u201d\n\nJust then she met the quarrel-bird mother, and she asked her, \u201cHow did\nyou find your own children?\u201d\n\nAnd the quarrel-bird mother said, \u201cI was passing by the camphor tree\nwhen I saw the little ones alone, and I asked, \u2018What are you doing\nhere?\u2019 And they said, \u2018Eating nuts!\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Do you like nuts?\u2019 I asked.\n\n\u201c\u2018Oh yes, very well.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Where did you come from?\u2019 I said.\n\n\u201c\u2018We came from the yellow-bird family.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018But you do not look like the yellow birds.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018No, and we did not talk nor eat as they did.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Where is your home now?\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018We have no home.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Why do you not live with the yellow-bird mother?\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018We were not happy there. The others do not eat nor drink, nor sing as\nwe do. We are not fond of them, nor they of us.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018You are like me and mine,\u2019 I told them. And we looked at each other\nand saw the same feathers and the same color. Then they asked me where\nmy home was and I told them under a rock of the Wu-Toa Mountain. So\nthey went with me, and my house and my food were pleasant to them. In\nsome way\u2014though we could not tell how\u2014we knew in our hearts that we\nbelonged to each other. And we were happy, happy.\u201d\n\nThe eagle mother thought long about the story of the quarrel-bird, and\nthe next morning she left her nest early and went to the wilderness to\nseek her lost children. On the way, she met a cousin eagle who asked\nher, \u201cWhy are you crying and crying?\u201d\n\nThe eagle mother answered and said, \u201cI have lost three children. Have\nyou seen any\u2014lost in the wilderness? I could not sleep all last night,\nfor a great trouble has come to me.\u201d\n\nThe eagle cousin said, \u201cI saw three eagle children pass here. They went\nto the Fah-Nim tree and ate of its fruit. They were playing there, and\nseemed to be happy.\u201d\n\nThe eagle mother went to the Fah-Nim tree and saw three little eagles;\nand she said, \u201cChildren, how did you come here?\u201d\n\nThe little eagles answered her, \u201cWe are not your children. Why do you\ncall us? We have had no mother since we were born. The rice bird left\nus when we were small. She said we were not her children. Then an eagle\ncame along and gave us food until we could fly.\u201d\n\nThe eagle mother said, \u201cYou look like my older children, and I believe\nyou are mine. Would you like to go with me and see our home?\u201d\n\nThen the little eagles talked together and said, \u201cShe is very kind to\nus. Of course we do not know her, but we might go and see her home.\u201d\n\nSo they went, and in that eagle mother\u2019s house, they soon knew her for\ntheir mother and she knew her own children.\n\nAnd Jeung-Po lost the money, for it was proved that he could not change\nnature. Each bird went back to its own kind. The eagle is always an\neagle, and the rice bird is always a rice bird.\n\n\n\nEe-Sze (Meaning): The good can not stay with the evil; light can not be\nchanged into darkness, nor darkness into light. White is always white\nand black is always black. The rice bird is always a rice bird and the\neagle is always an eagle. Each is according to his own nature and kind.\nMan need not try to change those things which the Creator made\nchangeless.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE CHILDREN AND THE DOG\n\n\u5b69\u7ae5\u8207\u72ac\n\n\nWoo-Hsing lived near the market place and all the children thought him\na very wonderful man. He trained fine dogs to do almost everything but\ntalk. If one wanted a dog educated, Woo-Hsing was the man to take him\nto. Whether for hunting, for performing tricks in public places or from\ndoor to door\u2014anything, all things, Woo-Hsing could teach his dogs. This\nis why the children thought him a wonderful man.\n\nIt came time for Woo-Hsing\u2019s little boy to learn how to teach dogs. So\none day he brought his son a very young one from the market place. Then\nhe told him how the dog should be taught. It would take three years to\nteach him all: to play soldier with a gun, to dance, to bow his head,\nto kneel, to play churn the rice, [28] to swim in water with a boy on\nhis back, or to take a basket and go from door to door and beg rice and\nmoney for his master. Even then his training was not complete until he\ncould hunt the fox, the gibbon, the mouse-deer, and other animals.\n\nWoo-Hsing\u2019s little boy had been named Yiong-Yueng, which in Chinese\nmeans \u201cForever.\u201d The reason for the name was this: Woo-Hsing had been\ngiven many sons, but they had all died young, so when the last one came\nhe named him Forever, for he said, \u201cHe will then live a long time and I\nshall not be childless.\u201d\n\nYiong-Yueng called his dog Hsi-Long, which means \u201cfor fun.\u201d He was a\nvery wise dog and learned so many tricks in a short time, that he was\nknown and admired by all the boys in the country around.\n\nOne day a crowd of children coming home from school met Hsi-Long in the\nroad. They all shouted, \u201cHere is Yiong-Yueng\u2019s dog. Now we will have\nsome fun and make him do all his tricks for us.\u201d\n\nSo one boy said, \u201cHere, Hsi-Long! Come here,\u201d but the dog would not\neven notice him. Then another boy pulled his tail because he would not\nobey; and Hsi-Long bit the boy\u2019s finger and growled, and the boy ran\nhome crying.\n\nAnother boy said, \u201cNow see me. I will make him take me on his back for\na swim in the water as he takes Yiong-Yueng;\u201d and he caught Hsi-Long\nroughly and tried to pull him in the water. But the dog pulled his\nclothes and growled so fiercely that the boys scattered and ran home.\n\nOne of the boys, Ah-Gum, told his mother what had happened, and how\nangry they all were at the dog, who needed a beating, as they thought.\n\u201cWhen Yiong-Yueng has visitors, Hsi-Long kneels and bows and does all\nhis tricks for him; why would he not do them for us, Ah-Ma? How can we\nmake him do the tricks for us?\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, my son,\u201d said his mother, \u201cyou wanted the dog to do many things\nfor you. Have you ever done anything for the dog? You are a stranger to\nhim. Did you ever give him anything to eat or drink?\n\n\u201cTry this,\u201d continued the mother. \u201cTo-morrow, take a bowl of rice, put\na little meat and gravy with it, and give it to the dog. Speak kindly\nto him and pet him. Do this two or three times and he will surely like\nand trust you. Then he will do for you all he knows how to do.\n\n\u201cYou will find people in the world are just the same, my son. Do not\nexpect people to do things for you when you do nothing for them, for\nthat is not right. You must give, if you expect to receive, and it is\nbetter to give first.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE TWO MOUNTAINS\n\n\u5169\u5927\u5c71\n\n\nThe Kwung-Lun Mountain is very high\u2014ten thousand feet or more. Most of\nthe time his head is covered with the clouds and, since he was born, no\nman has ever found the way to climb where he might look in the face of\nthe great Kwung-Lun. And the eagles and the San-Chi [29] birds live\nalways with him.\n\nOne day Kwung-Lun spoke to the Tai-San Mountain who lived near, and\nsaid, \u201cI am the highest mountain in the world. I am the steepest and\nmost honorable of all the mountains here. The farmers come to me; from\nthe morning until the evening sun they come and cut the great rocks\nfrom my base. And from the earliest light, until the darkness gathers\nabout my head, the birds sing for me. I have the San-Chi birds. They\nwear the most beautiful feather in the world. It shines in the sun and\nhas a different glory for the moon. Man gives more gold for this than\nfor any other feather that is on the earth. The San-Chi is mine. I feed\nhim and he lives always with me.\n\n\u201cYesterday, a teacher and his scholars came here and I heard him tell\nthem this story about Confucius:\u2014\n\n\u201c\u2018One day, Confucius was talking to the young King Loa-Bai, and he\nasked the king, \u201cHave you ever been to the Kwung-Lun Mountain?\u201d And the\nking answered, \u201cNo.\u201d Then Confucius showed him a beautiful fan made of\nfeathers from the San-Chi birds. \u201cDid you ever see feathers like\nthese?\u201d he asked.\n\n\u201c\u2018\u201cI am a king and I have seen many things,\u201d said the young king, \u201cbut\nnever have I beheld colors of such wondrous beauty. I will give you one\nthousand pieces of silver if you will bring me a fan like this one.\u201d\n\n\u201c\u2018And Confucius answered, \u201cIf I can persuade you to do one thing that I\ndesire greatly I will give you the fan, for I should not like to sell\nit. I could not well take silver in exchange for it, as it was given to\nmy honored ancestor, my great-great-grandfather. But as I have said, if\nyou will take my advice concerning a certain matter, you shall have the\nfan.\u201d\n\n\u201c\u2018\u201cI will be advised by you,\u201d said the young king. \u201cWhat do you wish me\nto do?\u201d\n\n\u201c\u2018\u201cYou are a king [30] of great strength,\u201d said Confucius. \u201cYou have\nmore soldiers than any other king. But if you were a lion, you would\nnot kill all the other animals in the wilderness to show your great\nstrength. Or, if you were the greatest fish in the waters, you would\nnot swallow all the weaker fish.\u201d\n\n\u201c\u2018The young king answered, \u201cNo, I would not! If I were a lion, I would\nlet all the weaker creatures dance before me in happiness and safety.\u201d\n\n\u201c\u2018\u201cYou are a strong, great king,\u201d said Confucius. \u201cOther kingdoms are\nweaker than your own. Their kings do not wish to fight, unless they\nmust. If you will take my advice and will not force them to war for six\nyears, you shall have many gifts from these kingdoms. You shall have\nthis wonderful fan made of the feathers from one hundred and twenty\nSan-Chi birds, and gold and ivory, with beautiful carving; and you\nshall have gems of many colors and battle-horses and bears\u2019 feet. [31]\nIf you will be advised by me, the other nations will give you these\nthings.\u201d\n\n\u201c\u2018\u201cHow soon shall I have these things?\u201d the young king asked.\n\n\u201c\u2018\u201cIn one year,\u201d Confucius replied, \u201cyou shall have them. I must have\ntime to go again to the rulers of these kingdoms.\u201d\n\n\u201c\u2018So the king agreed to do as Confucius desired; and Confucius said, \u201cI\nnow give you my fan, and if in one year it is as I say, the fan is\nyours. But if you begin warring with any other nation in that time, you\nmust return the gift to me.\u201d\n\n\u201c\u2018Then Confucius went to see the rulers of the weaker kingdoms, and\nfour gave promises of peace and sent gifts to the young king. But one\nof the kings would not give tribute, neither would he say when he would\nbegin war.\n\n\u201c\u2018When a year had almost passed, the young king reported to Confucius,\n\u201cFour kings only have sent me gifts. Does the other nation wish war, or\nwill its king send me a gift as the others have done?\u201d\n\n\u201c\u2018\u201cWill you not take my fan as a gift from me, and let the small weak\nnation go?\u201d said Confucius.\n\n\u201c\u2018Then the king became very angry. He tore his long robe and said, \u201cI\nwill swallow up the nation that is my enemy. We will have war now.\u201d\n\n\u201c\u2018\u201cThe year of your promise is not yet gone,\u201d said Confucius. \u201cIf you\ndo that, you must return the priceless fan.\u201d And the young king gave\nConfucius his fan and went away.\n\n\u201c\u2018The king gave his general the order to make ready for war. But in a\nfew hours he repented of what he had done, for he prized the fan of\nConfucius above all gold or jewels, and he ordered his general to cease\npreparing for battle. And he further ordered that a Jeh-Shung\u2014good\ntalker\u2014be sent with this message to Confucius.\n\n\u201c\u2018\u201cI, the king, am sick at heart. I wish you to come to me and bring\nwith you the fan which I prize above all gems. I will not battle with\nthe weaker kingdom.\u201d\n\n\u201c\u2018\u201cI have important work and can not come to-day,\u201d answered Confucius,\n\u201cbut in one more day I will see the king.\u201d\n\n\u201c\u2018Then the king was very happy again, for his heart was set on\npossessing the fan.\n\n\u201c\u2018When the next day came, the king sent the most honorable chair\n(carried by eight men), and went himself to meet Confucius, who held in\nhis hand the priceless fan, for well he knew the heart of the young\nking.\n\n\u201c\u2018And when he drew near, the king could not see Confucius. He saw only\nthe sparkling colors of the fan he so desired. And Confucius said, \u201cI\nthought you were going to destroy the weaker nation. Why do you wish me\nto come here?\u201d\n\n\u201c\u2018Then the king bowed to Confucius and said, \u201cI am in the wrong. I have\nthought deeply about this, and I will take your advice and keep peace.\nNow, will you give me the fan?\u201d\n\n\u201c\u2018\u201cNo, you are not to have the fan on the agreement which you broke,\nfor when you sent me away you prepared to make war on the weaker\nnation,\u201d said Confucius.\n\n\u201c\u2018And the young King fell with his face to the ground and his\nattendants came to care for him.\n\n\u201c\u2018\u201cIf you will make a new agreement,\u201d said Confucius, \u201cand promise that\nyou will never be the first to go to war, I will give you this fan that\nyou so desire.\u201d\n\n\u201c\u2018The young king made the agreement. And the fan was given him by\nConfucius. And the king said to himself, \u201cThis fan is more than many\nkingdoms to me. In all the world of man, there is nothing else so\nbeautiful. My heart has desired above all things this wonderful fan of\nthe San-Chi feathers and the rare carving.\u201d\u2019\u201d\n\n\n\nWhen the Kwung-Lun Mountain had told this story to the Tai-San\nMountain, he said, \u201cAlthough I have the San-Chi birds, the most\nbeautiful of all creation, yet it is to me a strange thing that a\nthousand and a thousand people bow their heads and worship you, while I\nstand here and am hardly noticed.\n\n\u201cYou give no great thing to the people. You have no beauty. You are not\ntall and grand. Your head is not higher than the clouds. You can not\nsee the dark and secret caves of the thunder, and the hidden places of\nthe beginning of the storm. You never gave feathers, more beautiful\neven than flowers, to a king. Why do the people worship you instead of\nme? The hunter comes to me and the farmer takes my stones, but they\nforget me, the giver. Now, tell me truly, why do people love and\nworship you instead of me?\u201d\n\nAnd the Tai-San Mountain answered, \u201cI will tell you why. You are very\nhaughty. You are stiff and stony and proud, from your base to your\nsummit. Your nature is not kind. The children can not play in your lap.\nIn the summer time when the people come for the fruit and grain\nharvest, you give them nothing; and they can not come to you to choose\nthe San-Da. It hurts their feet to walk among your rocks and stones. No\none can visit you. You do not welcome them. How can they worship you?\n\n\u201cI am lower and of a gentler nature. The birds come to me to make their\nnests, and people always gather about me in the summer time. My heart\nis open and every one knows me well and loves me.\u201d\n\n\n\nEe-Sze (Meaning): The proud and the gentle live in the world together.\nBut the gentle and loving have happiness that the proud can not\nunderstand.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA CHINESE PRODIGAL SON\n\n\u6d6a\u5b50\u6b78\u5bb6\n\n\nI\n\nKong-Hwa\u2019s father and mother were farmers. They had a pleasant home and\nwould have been very happy together, but after Kong-Hwa was four years\nold, he was a bad, disobedient boy.\n\nHe would not listen to his mother\u2019s teachings. She was a good woman and\ntried by different ways to make him do right. In school he was\nconsidered a very bright boy and learned fast, but he would not obey\nhis teacher.\n\nKong-Hwa was only seven years old when he came home one day with his\nbooks. He had run away from school.\n\nAs he came into the room where his mother was working, he cried out,\n\u201cM\u00fc-Ts\u2019ing, why do you do that?\u201d\n\nShe was cutting into little bits a fine large piece of cloth that she\nhad woven to make the family clothes of. \u201cWhy do you spoil the cloth,\nmother?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, my son, it is true I spoil the cloth. It is now good for nothing.\nIt will not make clothes for your father, clothes for yourself, nor\nclothes for me. It is wasted, and will not be of use even for dust\ncloths. It is not good for anything. Do you know why I did that, my\nboy?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, M\u00fc-Ts\u2019ing, why did you do it?\u201d\n\n\u201cFor this reason, my son: I am anxious that you shall be good and study\nyour lessons in school every day, and I hope and hope that after a\nwhile you will be a good and wise man and do something for your father,\nyour mother, and your nation. And I also hoped to make your clothes out\nof this cloth.\n\n\u201cBut your teacher says you run away, go to the seesaw, play in the\nwater, climb trees, throw stones at the little birds all day and will\nnot study.\n\n\u201cYou are using your time as I have used the nice new cloth\u2014cutting it\nup in useless little pieces. I once thought you were a wise child, but\nyou are not. You are very foolish.\u201d\n\nKong-Hwa cried and felt sad, while his mother talked, and then he said,\n\u201cI will go back to school to-morrow. Now can you mend the cloth or make\nanother piece, M\u00fc-Ts\u2019ing?\u201d\n\n\u201cI will wait and see if you really mean to be a good boy,\u201d said his\nmother.\n\nThe next morning he arose early, took his books, and went directly to\nschool; but in a few days he was as bad as before.\n\nThe school children and the neighbors complained about the boy who did\nso much mischief. His mother had only the one little son, and as they\ncame to her with complaints, she felt that she could almost die with\ngrief.\n\nShe lay awake all night thinking, \u201cWhat can I do to teach my boy the\ngood? Who can give a boy lessons if not his own mother? Oh, I must\nthink of some way.\u201d\n\nNext morning Kong-Hwa was up at the usual time and went into the\nkitchen for food. But the kitchen was dark; there was no fire, no food.\n\nHe said to himself, \u201cIt is queer; so late and no breakfast.\u201d He went to\nhis mother\u2019s room and called, \u201cM\u00fc-Ts\u2019ing;\u201d but there was no answer. He\nthen went close to her bed and touched her, but she did not move.\n\nHe then ran to his aunt and told her to go and see\u2014that his mother was\nsurely dead.\n\nShe answered, \u201cIt may be that the gods have taken her away because you\nhave been such a bad boy. Now will you be a better boy?\u201d And he\npromised. Then she ran to her sister\u2019s home to see if she was dead.\n\nKong-Hwa stayed outside trembling with fear, while his aunt went in.\nShe soon saw that her sister was not dead and told of the promise of\nKong-Hwa.\n\n\u201cDid my boy think I was dead?\u201d asked his mother. \u201cWell, keep him at\nyour house for two or three days and send him to school. Let him think,\nand think, and he may be a better boy.\u201d\n\nKong-Hwa\u2019s aunt told him that if he learned his lessons and obeyed his\nteacher, it might be the gods would allow his mother to stay with him\nafter all.\n\nWhile his aunt prepared breakfast for him, he asked many questions.\n\u201cWhat did you do with my mother? Will there be a funeral?\u201d\n\n\u201cNever mind,\u201d said the aunt, \u201cgo to school and do not be so bad any\nmore, and we shall see what happens. It may be your mother will live\nagain.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nII\n\nFor two days Kong-Hwa was good\u2014no schoolmate complained, no neighbor\ncomplained. He studied his lessons and obeyed his teacher. Then he went\nagain to his mother\u2019s house. He saw that she was alive, and in a few\ndays he was again as bad as ever.\n\n\u201cI can not teach him, he must learn things for himself,\u201d said his\nmother; \u201cI do not know what else I can do.\u201d\n\nAnd it was so until he was twelve years old. His mother tried to help\nhim to do right, but it seemed of no use.\n\nShortly after he was twelve years old, he came home from school one day\nand said, \u201cM\u00fc-Ts\u2019ing, I want to go to Siang-Sze. I will leave school.\nNo one likes me; no one plays with me. I do not like school and I will\nnot go anymore. I shall be a merchant and make money.\u201d\n\nHis mother thought he was too young to know what he wanted, and so paid\nlittle attention to him. But he insisted, and finally she said, \u201cGo to\nyour father.\u201d\n\nHis father was surprised and asked, \u201cYou wish to make money? How can\nyou make money without money? Siang-Sze is a long way off and it will\ncost you much to go there. Then you will need more to be a merchant.\u201d\n\nKong-Hwa said, \u201cGive me enough to reach Siang-Sze and I will go.\u201d He\ninsisted until his father beat him and said, \u201cNow go back to school. I\nwill hear no more of this.\u201d\n\nKong-Hwa was keen and determined. He borrowed money, quietly, a little\nhere and a little there, and then he ran away to Siang-Sze.\n\nFor many days his mother tried to find him. She did not think he would\ngo far by himself. Finally she learned that he had gone to Siang-Sze\nand gave up searching for him.\n\nNine years had gone by when a man from Siang-Sze told of seeing\nKong-Hwa there. His parents wrote to him, but no answer came. Thirteen\nyears passed by and they thought, \u201cWe shall never see his face again.\u201d\n\nOne day Kong-Hwa, who still lived in Siang-Sze, said to a friend, \u201cI\nmust go home now, if I can get money enough. I have learned some life\nlessons and now I am going.\u201d\n\nHis friend said, \u201cWe have good times in Siang-Sze. Why do you leave?\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is not the place where I ought to be,\u201d answered Kong-Hwa. \u201cI have\ntried many things here and in all the thirteen years have not had\nsuccess. No one will have me for a bookkeeper. I tried to be a\nmerchandise agent, and in two months I was discharged. I then worked in\na bank for forty days, when they paid my salary and told me to go.\nTo-morrow I need money to pay my rent, three months due; but I have no\nmoney. I order clothes, and they say, \u2018No money, no clothes.\u2019 I ask\nfriends to lend me some, and they do not even answer me.\n\n\u201cI see now I have been very foolish. I have been here thirteen years\nand I try to have a good time. I drink, I smoke, I dance, I go to\ntheaters and halls every night\u2014every night. I spend all of my money\nwhen I have work. Now I have no work; all my friends have left me; they\nwill not trust me for a piece of silver. I have been very bad. I was a\nbad boy at home. My mother was good and gave me many lessons which I\nwould not learn.\n\n\u201cBecause my mother was so good, I have no excuse for my miserable\ncondition now. I must go home and show her I am sorry at last. I know\nnow that in all the world there is no friend like a mother.\n\n\u201cI will write to her to-morrow and say in my letter, \u2018M\u00fc-Ts\u2019ing, I am\ngoing to leave the opium, theater, and dance\u2014all bad things.\u2019 I will\nask her to send me money to come home, and I will then take my father\u2019s\nplace on the farm.\n\n\u201cI will take the oxen and plow the rice fields, plant the corn, and\ntell my father to rest. I will help my mother so she need not cook nor\ndo any other work. There is no one like father and mother, and no place\nbut my home for me now.\u201d\n\nKong-Hwa wrote the letter and sent it by a friend, telling him to say\n\u201cgood words\u201d for him; for he felt that he deserved nothing after\ncausing his parents so much sorrow.\n\n\n\n\u201cThirteen long years and at last a letter from our dear son,\u201d cried\nKong-Hwa\u2019s mother.\n\nHis parents were filled with joy and asked the bearer of the good news\nall about him. How long would it take for the letter and money that\nthey would send to reach him? Would he come at once?\n\nHis mother wrote: \u201cMy son, Kong-Hwa, come to our home. We feel that you\nwill do what you say in your letter. The house, the land, and all we\nhave is yours and we will rejoice to have you come and care for them.\nThe time will seem long until you are here.\u201d\n\nKong-Hwa went to his parents as soon as the letter and money came to\nhim. And he was a good man from that time and served his parents and\nmade their old age glad. He did everything as he had said he would. He\ntook the oxen and plowed the rice fields. He planted the corn, and he\nhelped his mother in the house, and all were happy.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE LION AND THE MOSQUITOES\n\n\u7345\u53d7\u868a\u6575\n\n\nOne day Ah-Fou\u2019s father said to him, \u201cCome here, my boy, and I will\ntell you a story. Do you remember the great lion we saw one day, which\nAh-Kay caught? You know a strong rope held him, and he roared and tried\nto free himself until he died. Then when Ah-Kay took him from the net,\nhe looked at the rope and the bamboo carefully, and found five of the\ngreat ropes broken.\n\n\u201cHow strong is the lion? Twenty children like you could not break one\nstrand of that great rope. But the lion broke five complete ropes. He\nis the strongest of all animals. He catches many creatures for his\nfood, but once he lost a battle with one of the least of the wilderness\ncreatures. Do you know what it was?\u201d\n\n\u201cA bird could fight and then fly away. Was it a bird?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, my son.\u201d\n\n\u201cA man is stronger than a lion.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, do you not remember the woodcutter who could put down five strong\nmen? One night a wilderness lion caught and killed him.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen what was the smallest of all creatures of the wilderness that\nbattled with a lion?\u201d\n\nThe father said, \u201cI will tell you the story: Once in the summer time\nthe lion was very thirsty. But the sun had taken all the water near the\nlion\u2019s home and he went to many places seeking for it. In time he found\nan old well, but the water was not fresh. As the lion was very thirsty\nhe said, \u2018I must drink, even though the water is stale.\u2019\n\n\u201cBut when he reached down into the old well, he found that it was the\nhome of all the mosquitoes of the wilderness.\n\n\u201cThe mosquitoes said to the lion, \u2018Go away, we do not want you. This is\nour home and we are happy. We do not wish the lion, the fox, or the\nbear to come here. You are not our friend. Why do you come?\u2019\n\n\u201cThe lion roared and said, \u2018Weak and foolish things! I am the lion. It\nis you that should go away, for I have come to drink. This is my\nwilderness, and I am king. Do you know, weak things, that when I come\nout from my place and send forth my voice, all the creatures of the\nwilderness shake like leaves and bow their heads to me? What are you\nthat you should have a place you call your home and tell me that I may\nor I may not?\u2019\n\n\u201cThen the mosquitoes answered, \u2018You are only one. You speak as if you\nwere many. Our people had this old well for a home before your roar was\nheard in the wilderness. And many generations of us have been born\nhere. This home is ours, and we are they that say who shall come or go.\nAnd yet you come and tell us to go out of our own door. If you do not\nleave us, we will call our people, and you shall know trouble.\u2019\n\n\u201cBut the lion held his head high with pride and anger and said, \u2018What\nare you, oh small of the small? I will kill every one of your useless\npeople. When I drink, I will open my mouth only a little wider, and you\nshall be swallowed like the water. And to-morrow, I shall forget that I\ndrank to-day.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Boastful one,\u2019 said the mosquitoes, \u2018we do not believe that you have\nthe power to destroy all our people. If you wish battle, we shall see.\nWe know your name is great and that all animals bow their heads before\nyou; but our people can kill you.\u2019\n\n\u201cThe lion jumped high in his rage and said, \u2018No other creature in the\nwilderness has dared to say these things to me\u2014the king. Have I come to\nthe vile well of the silly mosquitoes for wisdom?\u2019 And he held his head\nhigh, and gave the mighty roar of battle, and made ready to kill all\nthe mosquitoes.\n\n\u201cThen the mosquitoes, big and little, flew around him. Many went into\nhis ears, and the smallest ones went into his nose, and the big old\nones went into his mouth to sting. A thousand and a thousand hung in\nthe air, just over his head and made a great noise, and the lion soon\nknew that he could not conquer.\n\n\u201cHe roared and jumped, and two of his front feet went down into the\nwell. The well was narrow and deep and he could not get out, for his\ntwo hind feet were in the air and his head hung downward. And as he\ndied, he said to himself:\n\n\u201c\u2018My pride and anger have brought me this fate. Had I used gentle\nwords, the mosquitoes might have given me water for my thirst. I was\nwise and strong in the wilderness, and even the greatest of the animals\nfeared my power. But I fought with the mosquitoes and I die\u2014not because\nI have not strength to overcome, but because of the foolishness of\nanger.\u2019\u201d\n\n\n\nEe-Sze (Meaning): The wise can conquer the foolish. Power is nothing,\nstrength is nothing. The wise, gentle, and careful can always win.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE THIEF AND THE ELEPHANT\n\n\u4ee5\u8c61\u554f\u6848\n\n\nSix hundred years ago the people of Southern China trained elephants\nand taught them to do many useful things. They worked for farmers and\nwoodcutters, and helped make the roads twice a year; for an elephant\ncould do many times more work than any other animal. So wise were the\nelephants that the people grew superstitious about them, believing they\ncould see even into the heart of man.\n\nA judge named Ko-Kia-Yong had an elephant that was trained to do this\nwonderful thing, so it was said. Three cases which were brought before\nhim, were decided by a wise old elephant which he owned. And this is\nthe way one of the decisions was made:\n\nA man came before the judge and said that some robbers had been in his\nhouse during the night and had taken his gold and jewels\u2014all that he\nhad; and he asked the judge to find and punish the thieves.\n\nIn three months, five robbers had been found. When they were brought to\nthe judge, they bowed before him and each one said, \u201cI have never\nstolen anything.\u201d\n\nThe man and woman who had been robbed were called. And the woman said,\n\u201cThat man with the long gray hair is the one who robbed us.\u201d\n\nThe judge asked, \u201cAre you sure it is he, and how do you know?\u201d\n\nShe answered, \u201cYes, I remember. He took the bracelet from my arm and I\nlooked into his face.\u201d\n\n\u201cDid the other four rob you also?\u201d asked the judge.\n\nThe woman answered, \u201cI do not know.\u201d\n\nBut the judge said, \u201cThe man who you say is a robber, seems not like\none to me. His face is kind and gentle. I can not decide according to\nyour testimony. I know of but one way to find out, and we shall soon\nknow the truth in this matter. My elephant shall be brought in to\nexamine the men. He can read the mind and heart of man; and those who\nare not guilty need have no fear, for he will surely know the one who\nhas done this deed.\u201d\n\nFour of the men looked glad.\n\nThey were stripped and stood naked\u2014all but the cloth\u2014before the judge\nand the law of the nation, and the elephant was brought in.\n\nThen the judge said to the elephant, \u201cExamine these men and tell us\nwhich is the robber.\u201d The elephant touched with his trunk each of the\nfive accused men, from his head to his feet.\n\nAnd the white-haired man and the three others stood still and laughed\nat the elephant with happy faces; for they knew in their hearts they\nwere not guilty and they thought the elephant knew. But the fifth man\nshivered with fear and his face changed to many colors. While the\nelephant was examining him, the judge said, \u201cDo your duty,\u201d and rapped\nloudly. The elephant took the guilty man and threw him down on the\nfloor, dead.\n\nThen the judge said to the four guiltless men, \u201cYou may go.\u201d And to the\nwoman he said, \u201cBe careful whom you accuse.\u201d Then he said to the\nelephant, \u201cFood and water are waiting for you. I hope you may live a\nlong time, and help me to judge wisely.\u201d\n\nAfter this many wise men who were not superstitious went to the judge\nand said:\n\n\u201cWe know that your elephant can not read the heart and mind of man.\nWhat kind of food do you give him and what do you teach him? Man\nhimself lives only from sixty to one hundred years and he knows little.\nHow could an elephant read the heart of man, a thing which man,\nhimself, can not do? Did the spirit of a dead man grow wise and enter\nthat elephant? We pray that you explain.\u201d\n\nAnd Ko-Kio-Yong, the wise judge, laughed and said, \u201cMy elephant eats\nand drinks as other elephants do. I think he surely does not know a\nrobber from an honest man, but this is a belief among our people. The\nhonest man believes it and has no fear, because he has done no wrong.\nThe thief believes it, and is filled with terror. Trial before the\nelephant is only confession through fear.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE GENERAL, THE BIRD, AND THE ANT [32]\n\n\u5c07\u8ecd\u8cf4\u87fb\n\n\nThe people of the north nation were causing the king, Ting Ming Wong,\nmuch trouble, and one day he ordered his general, Gui S\u00fct Yun, to\ndeclare war on them.\n\nThe brave general prepared to march north at once. He led an army of\ntwenty-five thousand cavalry, followed by one thousand infantry.\n\nBy the time they reached Mau Tin Lang the soldiers were very tired, for\nthey had then marched ten days. Orders were given that they rest for\nthree days before proceeding.\n\nThe weather was very warm, and on the second day there was no more\nwater, not even to drink. The soldiers dug wells in many places, hoping\nto find water; but each time they were disappointed.\n\nA report was then made to the general, Gui S\u00fct Yun, which said, \u201cThe\nmen and horses are near death for the lack of water.\u201d\n\nThen the general ordered many men to go in different directions within\na radius of ten miles to search for water.\n\nThe following morning two hundred men were dead, and still no water\ncould be found.\n\nThen the general, Gui S\u00fct Yun, said, \u201cWe must all die here if we do not\nfind water. If it is within one hundred miles, I will find it.\u201d He then\nmounted his favorite war horse, and rode until both he and the horse\nwere ready to die with the terrible thirst. He tried to feed his horse\nwith green leaves; but he was weak and suffering, and the general lay\ndown for rest and sleep. He cried in bitterness of spirit. Then he\nlooked up to heaven and said:\n\n\u201cHas our king done a great wrong or have our soldiers done evil? Why\nshould we perish here in a strange land? In the hour that I rest and\nsleep here, may a spirit show me the path that leads out of this great\ntrouble.\n\n\u201cIt may be that if the north kingdom is right, we shall die here and\nnot even go to battle. But if we are right, this thing should not be.\nWhen we first came here, there was plenty of water. Why did the earth\ndrink up this water and leave us to die? As I sleep, may a spirit show\nme the meaning of all this.\u201d\n\nThen he slept. And he saw one of the great wilderness ants; and a bird\nflew down to eat the ant. But the ant spoke and said, \u201cI know that you\nbirds try to eat our family all the time. But it is not right that one\ncreature should eat another. You have power to overcome any ant and eat\nit if you wish, but man has charge of this world. When the hunter comes\nyou can not escape his arrow or his net.\n\n\u201cIt is not right that one creature should be against another creature.\nGo your way, and I will go my way, so that I may find food for my\nchildren.\n\n\u201cI have one hundred and fifty eggs in my nest now and I hope every one\nwill soon hatch. Then my children will depend on me to help them. They\nwill all die if you eat me, their parent. The earth has much grain,\nwheat, and rice. These are enough for your food.\u201d\n\nThen the bird answered, \u201cTell me what makes you so wise. I am a bird. I\nam much handsomer than you and I have a beautiful song. The children of\nmen all like me. It is true, as you say, the hunter does catch my\npeople sometimes. But there are many men who raise birds in their own\nhouses and teach them to sing. Then they take us to the music hall or\ntheater where they get money for our songs.\n\n\u201cOne member of the bird family carries letters for man; and our\nfeathers are used to make feather balls for the children to play with.\nSo you see, birds are very useful. But as for the ant I can not see how\nhe is useful to man or beast.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, you are mistaken,\u201d said the ant earnestly. \u201cDo you see this\ngeneral here? He needs me to help him now. Do you know why he is lying\nhere? He and his war horse are near death for the lack of water. Soon\nmore than a thousand soldiers will be dead. Then the north nation will\ntake this general\u2019s nation, and his people will no longer have a\ncountry. But I will save them.\n\n\u201cLong ago our people saved a nation. Once there was a war between the\neast and the west nations, and the general, Hai Hau, nearly perished\nfor water, even as this general here is doing. But my people always\nbuild their homes near water, and he followed their road and they\nshowed him the way to water and saved many lives.\u201d\n\nThen the bird opened his mouth and laughed scornfully, \u201cChic, Chic, I\ndo not believe that story. You are speaking falsely. I know of one very\nevil thing your people have done, which I will tell you about.\n\n\u201cMen built a great tower on the North Mountain once, and soon it fell\nto earth again. After a time they discovered the cause of this trouble.\nIt was not the wind, nor the storm, nor the rain, nor even the\nearthquake that shook the tower down. It was found that ants had eaten\nthe wood and this caused it to break and fall.\n\n\u201cBirds do not make trouble in the world. Ants do. But I will give you\nfair warning, that if you do not do this good thing you boast of, I\nwill eat you at once.\u201d\n\nThe ant answered, \u201cYou shall yet see that I am able to save this\ngeneral, his soldiers, and his horses.\u201d\n\nThe ant then went straight to the general\u2019s ear and said to him, \u201cDo\nyou remember General Hai Hau who was lost in this wilderness? If you\nwill go to the forest, you will see a black street full of my people.\nThey will lead you to their nests near the great cave spring in the\nwilderness, which was named Hai Hau for the general who discovered it.\nIt is only a half mile from here.\u201d\n\nThen the general, Gui S\u00fct Yun, awoke and said, \u201cStrange, but I surely\nheard an ant and a bird talking together while I slept. Where is my\nmap? I did not know of the cave of Hai Hau.\u201d\n\nHe found the great cave spring, and he and his horse drank. Then he\nhurried back to the soldiers, and their lives were saved.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHREE GIRLS WHO WENT TO A BOYS\u2019 SCHOOL\n\n\u540d\u7b26\u5176\u884c\n\n\nThere were thirty-five scholars in the school at Qui-Chu, and three\nwere girls. The boys played by themselves and the three girls played\ntogether.\n\nOne day the teacher said to his mother, \u201cI think I shall have the girls\ndress in boys\u2019 clothes next year, if they come to school.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy will you do this?\u201d asked his mother.\n\n\u201cBecause the boys do not like girls in the school. They will not play,\nread, or write with them. They tease them and laugh at them. I fear the\ngirls must leave the school next year, and they are only nine years\nold. But we shall see.\u201d [33]\n\nWhen the next year came, the mother was willing to do as her son said.\nShe took some cloth and made boys\u2019 clothes for the three girls, which\nshe put on them to see how they would look dressed as boys.\n\nWhen the girls were dressed, they looked at each other and laughed.\n\u201cWhat will you do with the ear-holes, grandmother?\u201d they asked. \u201cSurely\nthe boys will know we are girls.\u201d\n\nThe mother called her son and asked him, \u201cWhat shall we do with the\near-holes? They look like boys now, save for that one thing. I fear the\ngirls can not go to school.\u201d\n\n\u201cI will see,\u201d replied her son. He thought much for two days. Then he\nwent to find an old doctor in the next village, far enough away so that\nno one would know. He asked the doctor, \u201cCan you close the ear-holes so\nthat girls\u2019 ears will be as boys\u2019?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, yes,\u201d answered the doctor, \u201cI can if you will pay me.\u201d Then the\ndoctor came and put something in the ear-holes and colored it so that\nit looked like skin, and the grandmother was satisfied to send the\ngirls to school.\n\nBut the teacher forgot and called them girls\u2019 names. The others laughed\nat the three boys with funny names, but they did not seem to remember\nthem.\n\nFive or six months went by, and the boys had not yet learned that the\nthree scholars with the pretty names were the girls of last year. Then\none boy came to the teacher and asked, \u201cWhy do those boys have girls\u2019\nnames? I wish to know.\u201d\n\nThe teacher thought a moment and said, \u201cLily\u2014Beauty\u2014Moon. That boy was\ncalled Lily, I think, because he was so red [34] when he was a little\nbaby. The mother thought he ought to be called \u2018Red,\u2019 but that is not a\npretty name for a baby, and so they called him Lily.\n\n\u201cAnd do you not think that Beauty\u2019s name suits him? He is the\nhandsomest boy in the school. I think his mother called him Beauty\nbecause he was such a pretty baby. He is as pretty as a girl. I think\nit is right that he should be called Beauty. Moon\u2019s name is suitable\nfor him, too. You know he is gentle and fair. Did you ever see a more\ngentle boy in school? I think he was always very gentle and fair, and\nso his mother gave him that name. All his friends like him as they do\nthe moon.\u201d\n\nThe boy ran away and told the other pupils what his teacher had said\nabout the three boys with the pretty names.\n\nNew Year came, and each boy had to write his name on a piece of paper\nand hand it to the teacher, so that he could give them their school\nnames. [35] Eight gave their names as Beauty, and seventeen as Moon,\nwhile all the others wanted to be called Lily. They expected the\nteacher would allow them to have those as their school names.\n\nIn the summer time the scholars had a vacation and the teacher went\naway for a time.\n\nOne day they were all on the playground playing \u201cTheater.\u201d They took\nnine of the prettiest boys and put red and white on their faces and\ndressed them like ladies and bound their feet to make them small. Six\nboys put on false beards. Then they piled up chairs and tables high to\nmake a mountain, and the boys with bound feet were to cross over to the\nother side. The boys who had to climb over the mountain from the\nopposite side were careless, and when all met at the top, they tumbled\nand fell down in a heap. One boy broke his arm, one broke his finger,\nand one hurt his eye. The other boys did not stay to help or see what\nthey could do for those who were hurt. All but the three girls, who\nwere dressed like boys, ran away in fear, and left the wounded children\nlying on the ground.\n\nOne girl ran for the doctor. The other two stayed and gave the hurt\nones water to drink, fanned their faces, kept the flies away, and cared\nfor them like little mothers.\n\nIn a few minutes the doctor came. He asked, \u201cWhat were you doing,\nboys?\u201d The boys were so hurt and scared that they could not talk, but\nthe girls told how it had all happened.\n\nThe doctor bound up the broken arm and finger, and dressed the bruised\neye. He was a good doctor and said, \u201cThese boys must lie still several\ndays. They can not get up without my orders; now who is willing to take\ncare of them?\u201d\n\n\u201cWe will help,\u201d said the three girls.\n\n\n\nThe teacher came back and school began again. When he called for the\nnames of the pupils, they gave those which they liked best\u2014Lily,\nBeauty, and Moon\u2014as before, but the teacher said, \u201cNo, these names are\nall wrong.\n\n\u201cThere is only one Lily, one Beauty, and one Moon in this school now.\nYou boys can not use the names I gave you. You had beautiful names, but\nyour acts were not beautiful.\n\n\u201cYou ran away when your schoolmates were hurt. You had no pity for\nthem. Had it not been for Lily, Beauty, and Moon, they would have died.\nThese names mean something. Beauty makes the world a pleasant place for\nus to live in. The Moon shines and gives us soft light. The Lily gives\nus beauty and sweet-smelling odors.\n\n\u201cYour acts were not like the names. After this, when boys want such\nnames they must do something to be worthy of them.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE RATTAN VINE AND THE ROSE TREE\n\n\u8513\u8396\u8207\u6885\u6a39\n\n\nIn the San-Wui district, in the garden of a rich merchant, lived the\nLon-da-Tang [36] (rattan vine) and the Mui-Kwi (rose tree).\n\nOne day the rose tree said to the rattan vine, \u201cLon-da-Tang, please\ntell me how you grow so fast. What do you eat that you are able to go\nany where you wish? Nothing seems to hurt you. Nothing seems to stop\nyou, not even the stone fences or the clay roofs. You have no fear, and\nthere seems to be no danger for you. You care not for the heat of the\nsun when he is close in the summer time. The rain comes down with a\nrushing noise from dark places in the heavens, and you are not afraid.\nThe wind blows hard and bends our heads to the earth, but you seem not\neven to heed it.\u201d\n\nThen the Lon-da-Tang with a proud and happy summer face answered the\nrose tree, \u201cMui-Kwi-Si [37] (Mrs. Rose Tree), you should be made to\nleave this garden. I would not allow you to grow here if I were master.\n\n\u201cI have known you five or six years. The master put you in the earth\nand gave you much dirt to feed upon. He gives you water every morning.\nIn the winter time he gives you a cover and a bed of straw. He trims\nyour branches and serves you in many ways. And yet you do not grow.\n\n\u201cYou are nine years old now, and only five or six feet tall, while I am\nonly four years old and my branches measure many thousands of feet. You\nbear a few flowers in the summer, and that is all you can do. You have\nno fruit and not many leaves. You stand still in the garden and do\nnothing useful. You ought to be ashamed. Do you see my branches?\nAlthough I have been here but four years, I now reach over this house\nand am climbing the fence on the other side. Next year, I shall go and\ncover up another house.\n\n\u201cThe master likes me in summer, because I keep the hot sun from the\nroof and make his house cool. The children like me, too. Sometimes they\nclimb in my arms and swing. And the fence likes me, because I cover it\nso thickly that I protect it from the children and the pigs. The birds\nbuild their nests high in my arms and they like me also. The bugs like\nme, because I give them a home and they feed upon my leaves. So the\nmaster knows that I am good for many things.\n\n\u201cThe birds would not go to you, because you are so small; they can not\nbuild a nest upon you. The master\u2019s wife does not care much for you,\nbecause you have so many thorns that she finds it hard to gather your\nflowers. You are pretty, but who cares about that? The fence is high\nand no one sees you. And so you stand there and do nothing.\u201d\n\nThen the rose tree replied, \u201cLon-da-Tang, with all your boasting, you\ncan not even stand alone. I can at least do that. I know I am not\nlarge, and the birds do not build their nests with me. I can not grow\nso fast as you, but my children are known to the whole great world of\nmankind, and are called the sweetest of all flowers.\n\n\u201cAnd besides, I am independent. I do not lean upon other things. If\nyour house or your fence falls down, where then will be your vain\nboastful head?\n\n\u201cI care not what you say of me, whether you think a rose is good or\nbad, strong or weak. I do not wish to lean on the fence or roof as you\ndo. Some day, when the house and fence grow old, they will fall down,\nand what will you do then?\u201d\n\nSoon after this, there came a great storm. In San-Wiu many houses were\npartly destroyed and the fences fell to the ground. The roof of the\nmerchant\u2019s house was blown off. The proud rattan vine, Lon-da-Tang, was\nbroken in many places, and his head lay low on the earth.\n\nBut the rose tree stood firm. And she laughed and said to the rattan,\n\u201cI told you that it was dangerous to lean upon other things and never\nto learn to stand by yourself. I would not trust any house or fence to\ndo my standing for me. I would rather be independent. I grow all the\nleaves, stems, and flowers I want, and so I stand here forever. The\nnorth wind comes and I bow my head to the south. Then the south wind\ncomes and opens my beautiful flowers. I am the rose tree, and in my own\nstrength I stand.\u201d\n\nThe following new Ee-Sze has been added to this old story:\n\n\n\nEe-Sze (Meaning): China and her people should be as the rose tree. We\nmust rely upon ourselves. We are better students than warriors; once,\nwhen we found ourselves in trouble, we leaned on Japan. Then, when we\nhad trouble with her, Russia told us she would help. But she was much\nworse and wished to take our land and to make us a people without a\ncountry.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE MELON AND THE PROFESSOR\n\n\u5b78\u7531\u74dc\u5f97\n\n\nWu-Kiao was a professor in a large Chinese university, and a very proud\nand learned man. Hundreds of students were under his teaching, and many\nthousands honored him. When he went out of his house, five people\nfollowed, singing and playing the drum all the way down the street, and\neight men carried his chair. At home he had six servants about him.\nDuring each meal, thirty dishes were served at his table.\n\nThe professor was a great man. Through his wisdom and out of his deep\nknowledge, he explained all questions to the people.\n\nOne day Wu-Kiao sat in the shade of a tree in his garden. He turned his\nhead and saw a watermelon lying on the ground, nearly covered with its\ngreen leaves. Then, seeing the fig tree with many figs on it, he said,\n\u201cI think the Creator should have made the melon grow on this tree.\u201d\n\nHe touched the tree and said, \u201cHow strong you are; you could bear\nlarger fruit like the watermelon.\u201d And he said to the vine, \u201cYou, so\nthin and small, should bear small fruit like the fig. Things are not\nwell ordered. Mistakes are made in creation.\u201d Just then a fig dropped\nfrom the tree on his nose, and he was a little bruised.\n\nThen he said, \u201cI was wrong. If the fig tree bore fruit as large as the\nwatermelon and dropped it on my nose, I think I should be killed. It\nwould be a dangerous tree to all people. I must study more carefully. I\nknow many things and many people; and if I study and think more deeply,\nit may be I shall come to know that the Creator\u2019s works are perfect.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWORD LIST\n\n\naccuse                       \u63a7\u544a\nacquainted                   \u76f8\u719f\nacross                       \u8d8a\u904e\nactions                      \u4f5c\u7232\nadmired                      \u7a31\u8b9a\nadversity                    \u707d\u6b83\nadvice                       \u52f8\u8aeb\nadvise                       \u52f8\u00b7\u6307\u793a\nafraid                       \u6050\u6015\nagainst                      \u62d2\u6575\nails                         \u67d3\u6059\nalarm                        \u55a7\u5629\nalive                        \u751f\u6d3b\nancestors                    \u7956\u5b97\nanger                        \u5fff\u6012\nanguish                      \u60bd\u6158\u00b7\u7169\u60f1\nanxiety                      \u6182\u616e\nanxious                      \u6e34\u60f3\nappearance                   \u5f62\nappetite                     \u80c3\u53e3\nargue                        \u8faf\nargument                     \u8faf\u8ad6\narise                        \u8d77\u8eab\narmy                         \u9678\u8ecd\narranged the journey         \u5e03\u7f6e\u884c\u7a0b\naround                       \u56db\u570d\narrow                        \u77e2\naunt                         \u5b38\u6bcd\u00b7\u59d1\u6bcd\nauthority                    \u5a01\u6b0a\u00b7\u6b0a\nawake                        \u9192\u5be4\nawaken                       \u8b66\u9192\n\n\n\nbark                         \u6a39\u76ae\nbase                         \u57fa\u5740\nbaskets                      \u7c43\nbathe                        \u6d17\u6d74\nbattle                       \u722d\u6230\nbeard                        \u9b1a\nbeaten                       \u97ad\u8cac\nbee                          \u8702\nbeetle                       \u7532\u866b\u00b7\u69cc\u64ca\nbelt                         \u5e36\nbeneath                      \u5e95\u4e0b\nbitter                       \u82e6\nbitterness of spirit         \u82e6\u5fc3\nblessing                     \u798f\u6c23\nbookkeeper                   \u7576\u8cec\u66f8\u8a18\nbore                         \u751f\u990a\nborrowed                     \u501f\u8cb8\nbowed                        \u97a0\u8eac\nbracelet                     \u624b\u9432\nbranches                     \u679d\nbreakfast                    \u65e9\u81b3\nbreast                       \u80f8\u524d\nbreeze                       \u548c\u98a8\nbride                        \u65b0\u5a66\nbruised eye                  \u50b7\u76ee\nbulbs                        \u5713\u7269\nbundle                       \u6346\u00b7\u675f\u00b7\u5377\n\n\n\ncackling                     \u76f8\u8a00\u76f8\u8a9e (\u6307\u96de\u8a00)\ncage                         \u7c60\ncarp fish                    \u9bc9\u9b5a\ncatch                        \u6355\ncaught                       \u62ff\u7372\ncauses the trouble           \u62db\u5176\u798d\ncavalry                      \u9a0e\u5175\nceased                       \u505c\nchirped                      \u566a\nclapped                      \u62cd\u638c\ncleansed                     \u53bb\u6c5a\u00b7\u6d17\u6df8\nclimb                        \u722c\u4e0a\nclothes                      \u8863\u670d\ncompany                      \u4f34\ncomplained                   \u51fa\u6028\u8a00\ncomplaining                  \u51fa\u6028\u8a00\ncomplete                     \u5b8c\u5168\nconcerning                   \u95dc\u53ca\nconfession                   \u670d\u7f6a\u00b7\u62db\u8a8d\nconquer                      \u52dd\nconquered                    \u5f97\u52dd\ncontemptuously               \u4fae\u8fb1\ncorn                         \u771e\u73e0\u7c73\ncourage                      \u52c7\u6c23\ncousin                       \u5802\u59b9\ncowards                      \u602f\u592b\ncrab                         \u87f9\ncracking                     \u88c2\ncreature                     \u751f\u7269\ncreeper                      \u722c\u8005\ncrooked                      \u5f4e\u66f2\ncunning                      \u5201\u733e\n\n\n\ndance                        \u8df3\u6232\ndark                         \u9ed1\u6697\ndashed                       \u649e\ndaughter                     \u5973\u5b69\ndecay                        \u6f38\u58de\ndeer                         \u7261\u9e7f\ndelicate                     \u5b0c\u5ae9\ndepend                       \u9760\u8a17\ndeserted                     \u5ee2\u68c4\ndeserved                     \u61c9\u5f97\ndesk                         \u66f8\u6848\ndespair                      \u7d55\u671b\ndespised                     \u8f15\u8996\ndestroy                      \u6557\u58de\ndetermined                   \u51b3\u610f\ndialect                      \u8a00\u00b7\u571f\u767d\ndifferent                    \u7570\ndirections                   \u6307\u63ee\ndirt                         \u6c5a\u98df\ndisagreeable                 \u4e0d\u5408\u4e4b\u5473\ndisappears                   \u4e0d\u898b\ndisappointed                 \u5931\u671b\ndisgrace                     \u6065\u8fb1\ndisobedient                  \u9055\u80cc\ndistance                     \u8ddd\u96e2\ndoctor                       \u91ab\u751f\ndoctrine                     \u9053\ndress                        \u8863\u670d\ndresses                      \u7a7f\u670d\ndriven                       \u9010\ndropped                      \u4e1f\u843d\ndrum                         \u9f13\ndrummed                      \u64ca\u9f13\n\n\n\neagle                        \u9df9\near holes                    \u8033\u74b0\u5b54\nearnestly                    \u58f9\u610f\nelephant                     \u8c61\nelse                         \u5176\u4ed6\nempress                      \u7687\u4e0a\nempty                        \u7a7a\u865b\nendures                      \u582a\u5fcd\nenemies                      \u8b90\u6575\nenough                       \u8db3\u00b7\u6eff\nescape                       \u9003\u907f\nexamine                      \u8003\u9a57\nexchange                     \u514c\u63db\nexcused                      \u8fad\u9000\nexpect                       \u5e0c\u671b\nexplain                      \u89e3\u660e\n\n\n\nface cast down with sorrow   \u6182\u5f62\u65bc\u9762\nface distorted with anger    \u56e0\u6012\u8b8a\u9762\nfailed                       \u4e0d\u6210\nfanned                       \u6247\u98a8\nfamily                       \u5bb6\u5c6c\nfamine                       \u9951\u8352\nfeather                      \u6bdb\nfeathered                    \u7fbd\u6bdb\nfeed                         \u4e88\u4ee5\u98df\nfell                         \u8dcc\u4e0b\nfierce                       \u6050\u61fc\nfig                          \u7121\u82b1\u679c\nfight                        \u7dca\nfilled                       \u8015\u7a2e\nfinally                      \u7d42\nfire cracker                 \u7206\u7af9\nfins                         \u9c57\nflies                        \u8805\nfollowers                    \u540c\u9ee8\u8005\nfoggy                        \u9744\u9727\nfore                         \u6495\nforest                       \u6797\nforever                      \u6c38\u9060\nfought                       \u6230\u722d\nfragrant                     \u9999\u6c23\nfrail                        \u8edf\u5f31\nfresh                        \u65b0\u9bae\nfrightened                   \u5a01\u5687\nfrowned                      \u8e59\u984d\nfrozen                       \u51b0\u51cd\nfuneral                      \u51fa\u55aa\nfunny                        \u5e0c\u5947\nfurniture                    \u5668\u7528\u00b7\u88dd\u98fe\n\n\n\ngardener                     \u7ba1\u5712\u8005\ngarments                     \u88f3\u888d\ngathers                      \u805a\ngenerals                     \u5c07\u8ecd\u00b7\u63d0\u7763\ngeneration                   \u6642\u4ee3\ngibbon                       \u9577\u81c2\u733f\ngloomy                       \u660f\u6697\ngovernment                   \u653f\u5e9c\ngrace                        \u6069\u611b\ngrain                        \u7c73\u7a40\ngrasshoppers                 \u87b3\u8782\ngravy                        \u8089\u6c41\u4e4b\u985e\ngreedy                       \u8caa\u995c\ngrief                        \u6182\u616e\ngrowled                      \u54ee\u00b7\u5420\nguest                        \u5ba2\nguests                       \u5ba2\u4eba\nguilty                       \u72af\u904e\ngun                          \u9397\n\n\n\nhabits                       \u6027\u60c5\nhail                         \u96f9\nhandsome                     \u7f8e\u9e97\nhappened                     \u9022\u9047\nharvest                      \u6536\u6210\nhide                         \u96b1\u533f\nhoarded                      \u5132\u84c4\nhoney                        \u871c\nhonor                        \u5c0a\u8cb4\nhopped                       \u8df3\nhunger                       \u9913\nhunted                       \u6253\u7375\nhurried                      \u6025\u901f\nhurt                         \u50b7\n\n\n\nimage                        \u5f71\nimitated                     \u4eff\u00b7\u6548\nincense                      \u7dda\u9999\nindependent                  \u81ea\u7acb\nindifferently                \u6de1\u6f20\ninfantry                     \u6b65\u5175\ninsisted                     \u8feb\u00b7\u903c\ninstruction                  \u547d\u4ee4\ninterwoven                   \u9023\u5408\n\n\n\njacket                       \u77ed\u888d\njail                         \u7262\u7344\njealous                      \u5992\njewelry                      \u5bf6\u73e0\njudge                        \u88c1\u5224\u5b98\njudgment                     \u610f\u898b\u00b7\u51b3\u65b7\njumped                       \u8df3\n\n\n\nkeen                         \u4f36\u4fd0\nkilled                       \u622e\nkitchen                      \u53a8\u623f\n\n\n\nlack of water                \u4e4f\u6c34\nladder                       \u68af\nlemon                        \u6ab8\u6aac\nlightning                    \u96fb\nlion                         \u7345\u5b50\nlisten to                    \u807d\u5f9e\n\n\n\nmaiden                       \u7ae5\u5973\nmeal                         \u98df\u00b7\u9910\nmedicine                     \u85e5\nmerchants\u2019 agent             \u4ee3\u92b7\u8ca8\u8005\nmercy                        \u6069\nmerry                        \u5feb\u6a02\nmessage                      \u4fe1\u606f\nmingling                     \u4ea4\u96dc\nmischief                     \u9811\nmiserable                    \u60bd\u6158\nmocks                        \u6232\u5f04\nmother-in-law                \u59d1\nmounted                      \u4e0a\u99ac\nmouse                        \u8001\u9f20\nmud                          \u6ce5\nmusic                        \u97f3\u6a02\nmystery                      \u5967\u5999\n\n\n\nnarcissus                    \u6c34\u4ed9\u82b1\nnature                       \u6027\u60c5\nnaughty                      \u5201\u9811\nneighbors                    \u9130\nnet                          \u7db2\nnoise                        \u55a7\u9b27\nnurse girl                   \u4f8d\u5973\nnuts                         \u679c\u5b50\n\n\n\nobeyed                       \u670d\u5f9e\nobserved                     \u6ce8\u76ee\nodor                         \u6c23\u5473\noffends                      \u89f8\u72af\noppose                       \u62d2\norchard                      \u83d3\u6a39\u5712\noutcast                      \u7232\u4eba\u8f15\u8996\noutrun                       \u8d70\u52dd\noutwit                       \u52dd\u4ee5\u8a08\novertook                     \u6355\u7372\n\n\n\npark                         \u516c\u5712\nparty                        \u7fa3\u805a\u00b7\u540c\u4f34\npasture                      \u7267\u5730\npatient                      \u5fcd\u8010\npeanuts                      \u9577\u751f\u679c\npearls                       \u73e0\npeel                         \u525d\u76ae\nperfect                      \u5b8c\u5168\nperforming                   \u6210\u00b7\u6f14\nperish                       \u50b7\u4ea1\nperishing                    \u55aa\u4ea1\npersuade                     \u5f15\u52f8\npet                          \u937e\u611b\npetals                       \u82b1\u74e3\npig                          \u732a\npiled                        \u5806\npillow                       \u6795\npity                         \u60b2\u50b7\nplenty                       \u8c4a\u8db3\nplow                         \u8015\u8018\npoisoned                     \u6bd2\u4e4b\npond                         \u6c60\npossible                     \u6216\u53ef\npotatoes                     \u51fa\u828b\npreparing                    \u9810\u5099\npresence                     \u9762\u524d\nproceeding                   \u524d\u9032\nprophet                      \u5148\u77e5\nprovince                     \u7701\npulled                       \u62c9\npulse                        \u8108\npunish                       \u8cac\u7f70\npure                         \u6df8\u6f54\n\n\n\nquakes                       \u9707\u52d5\nquarreling                   \u722d\u8ad6\nqueen                        \u5947\u602a\n\n\n\nradius                       \u534a\u5f91\nrage                         \u5fff\u6012\nraged                        \u6012\u6c23\nrapped                       \u62cd\u00b7\u6025\u62cd\nreach                        \u5f97\u5230\nreally                       \u7684\u78ba\nrefuse                       \u62d2\nrefused                      \u62d2\u7d55\nrelatives                    \u89aa\u621a\nreplied                      \u7b54\nreproved                     \u9762\u8cac\nresist                       \u62d2\u00b7\u62b5\u4f4f\nrespectfully                 \u5c0a\u656c\nreverenced                   \u5c0a\u656c\nrighteousness                \u7fa9\nroar                         \u543c\nrobbed                       \u52ab\u63a0\nrobbers                      \u76dc\nrobe                         \u888d\nroughly                      \u7c97\u66b4\n\n\n\nsalary                       \u85aa\u4ff8\nsang                         \u5531\u66f2\nsatisfied                    \u6eff\u610f\nscales                       \u9c57\nscared                       \u6015\u5bb3\nscatter                      \u5206\u6563\nscattered                    \u8d70\u6563\u00b7\u5206\u96e2\nscold                        \u9762\u8cac\u00b7\u65a5\nscornful                     \u6094\u6162\nscraped                      \u524a\nscreamed                     \u547c\u558a\nsearched                     \u5c0b\u8a2a\nsearching                    \u627e\u5c0b\nsecret                       \u5bc6\u4e8b\nsecretary                    \u66f8\u8a18\nseeds                        \u7a2e\u5b50\nself-control                 \u81ea\u675f\nserved                       \u4e8b\u5949\nshade                        \u852d\nshame                        \u6065\nsharp knife                  \u5229\u5203\nshelter                      \u906e\u84cb\nshelter                      \u6bbc\nshivered                     \u6230\u6144\nshook                        \u6416\u52d5\nshort time                   \u4e0d\u591a\u65e5\nshouted                      \u6b61\u547c\nshrubs                       \u77ee\u6a39\nsilence                      \u5e7d\u975c\u7121\u8072\nsilly                        \u8822\u611a\nsilly                        \u5446\u00b7\u7344\nskin disease                 \u76ae\u75c7\nslap                         \u638c\u8cac\nsmooth                       \u5149\u6ed1\nsnail                        \u8778\nsneering                     \u85d0\u8996\nsobbing                      \u54ed\u6ce3\u4e4b\u8072\nsoil                         \u571f\u5730\nsoldier                      \u5175\nsour                         \u9178\nsplashed                     \u6f51\u6c34\nspoil                        \u6557\u58de\nsprang                       \u8df3\u51fa\nspurs                        \u8e22\nstab                         \u524c\nstains                       \u6c61\u6f2c\nstarving                     \u9951\nsteepest                     \u9ad8\u5d16\nsting                        \u524c\nstirred                      \u7c98\u52d5\nstomach                      \u80c3\nstrange                      \u5947\nstranger                     \u4e0d\u76f8\u8b58\u8005\nstruck                       \u64ca\nstuck                        \u524c\u5165\nsucceed                      \u5f97\u624b\nsudden                       \u5ffd\u7136\nsuggested                    \u6307\u793a\nsummit                       \u5c71\u9802\nsunk                         \u9677\u4e0b\nsuperstitious                \u8ff7\u4fe1\nsupport                      \u4f9b\u990a\nsuppose                      \u6599\u60f3\nsurprised                    \u9a5a\u8a1d\nswallowed                    \u4e00\u5451\nsweet-smelling               \u7f8e\u6c23\u5473\nswimming                     \u6cc5\u6c34\nsword                        \u528d\nswore                        \u77e2\u9858\nsympathy                     \u540c\u60c5\n\n\n\ntailor                       \u6210\u8863\u5320\ntear                         \u7834\u58de\nteased                       \u5b09\u5f04\ntemper                       \u5927\u6012\ntemple                       \u5edf\ntempted                      \u5f15\u8a98\nterrible                     \u99ed\nterror                       \u6050\u61fc\ntheater                      \u6232\u5712\nthin                         \u7626\u5f31\nthirsty                      \u6e34\nthorns                       \u524c\nthorn-sticks                 \u8346\u68d8\u6897\nthrew                        \u64f2\u00b7\u4e1f\nthroats                      \u5589\nthunder                      \u96f7\ntouched                      \u89f8\ntowards                      \u5411\ntrembled                     \u6230\u6144\ntrembling                    \u6230\u6144\ntribute                      \u8ca2\u8ce6\ntricks                       \u6232\u6cd5\u00b7\u8853\u8a23\ntrip                         \u904a\ntrunk                        \u8c61\u9f3b\ntwinkle                      \u9583\u720d\n\n\n\nugly                         \u919c\nuncovered                    \u812b\u5e3d\nunfinished                   \u672a\u5b8c\nunhatched                    \u5728\u5375\u4e4b\u96de\nunless                       \u9664\u00b7\u82e5\u4e0d\nunstable                     \u4e0d\u5b9a\nupside                       \u985a\u5012\n\n\n\nvegetable                    \u83dc\u852c\nvile                         \u9119\u964b\nvisit                        \u62dc\u8a2a\nvoice                        \u8072\u97f3\n\n\n\nwasted                       \u6feb\u8cbb\nwatch                        \u89c0\u770b\nwatermelon                   \u897f\u74dc\nwax                          \u881f\nweather                      \u5929\u6c23\nwidow                        \u5b40\u5a66\nwings                        \u7fbd\nwise                         \u566a\nwithstand                    \u582a\u7576\nwoodcutters                  \u6a35\u592b\nworthy                       \u9069\u7576\nwounded                      \u53d7\u50b7\nwoven                        \u7e54\nwrapped                      \u5305\u7e1b\n\n\n\nyouth                        \u5e74\u8f15\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNOTES\n\n\n[1] This is a folk story of nineteen hundred years ago.\n\n[2] This species of garden-snail is found in China, and is about the\nsize of a large Roman snail. It sucks the juice of the fruit while on\nthe trees, eats flies and bugs and, the Chinese say, is fond of sweets.\nIt reproduces every thirty days by spreading a leaf with a sticky\nsubstance where the sun shines, the family of young snails coming in\nabout fifteen days.\n\n[3] This story is about two thousand years old and is found in Chinese\nhistorical literature.\n\n[4] This is a Chinese life story and is about twelve hundred years old.\n\n[5] Mandarin dialect word meaning mother.\n\n[6] Bamboo-hat:\u2014A large umbrella-shaped hat, made of bamboo, and worn\nby the Chinese to keep off the rain.\n\n[7] The Chinese idea of perfection of character is based on the three\nhundred and fifty laws of Confucius, the first law requiring honor and\nperfect obedience to parents\u2014even in thought. The second law requires\none to think of one\u2019s own wrongdoing every day. So when Tsen-Tsze tried\nso hard to do right that each day he asked his parents and teacher,\n\u201cHave I done anything wrong to-day?\u201d he fulfilled the two highest laws\nof Confucius in spirit and in letter.\n\n[8] Tsen-Tsze was one of the seventy-two most faithful pupils of\nConfucius, chosen from among this great man\u2019s three thousand students\nbecause of his nearness to perfection in character. Most of the\nseventy-two students began studying with Confucius when they were\nchildren.\n\n[9] That he did not show or even feel a spirit of resentment when his\nfather beat him is considered a remarkable instance of honor and trust\nin parents.\n\n[10] In worshiping, the Chinese bow a given number of times for each\nact of reverence to grandparents or dead ancestors, or to father and\nmother.\n\n[11] In some parts of China this story is told the children to teach\nthem not to resent punishment from parents. They are taught that\nwhatever a parent does is for their good, and they must believe it\nunquestionably. When told this story they are asked, \u201cDo you think you\ncould feel that way toward your father after a whipping\u2014or would you\nfeel angry or sorry for yourself?\u201d\n\n[12] The Yen Tzi, or Kind Bird, is a species of the fly-catcher family\nfound in China. They migrate in the spring and fall, and never winter\nwhere the weather is very cold. They are very tame, sometimes even\nbuilding nests in the houses of the Chinese, and eating with the\nchickens at feeding time. They are very gentle, never fight among\nthemselves or with others, share their nests with each other or even\nwith other birds. Hence the name \u201cKind Birds.\u201d They are also sometimes\ncalled \u201cSociable Birds,\u201d because they always go in flocks and are never\nfound alone.\n\n[13] This story was told to his people by that good man Mong-Fu-Tsi\n(Canton dialect), who lived about five hundred years later than\nConfucius.\n\n[14] The little children of China from three to six years of age are\noften sent to a subscription school to learn to talk, write characters,\netc. The teachers of these schools are required to be men of very\nexemplary character. They must be gentle and kind and, above all, have\nno bad habits.\n\n[15] \u201cA man with wings.\u201d This can not be translated into the word\nangel.\n\nThis story from the \u201cChinese History,\u201d or life stories from the actual\nlives of the people, was taken from a district of China where Buddhism\nprevails. Tsing-Ching\u2019s idea of a man spirit with wings after death was\nbased on the belief taught by the Buddhist priests that man might live\nagain, but that no one could attain again a state of consciousness if\nhe killed, spilled blood, or ate flesh. Meat-eaters were consequently\nbarred from ever wearing wings.\n\nThe idea of wings was not general, as the Buddhist spirit was never\npictured as having wings, though being able to float through the air.\n\nThe hope of a future life was a little brighter for the Buddhist,\nhowever, than for the follower of Confucius. That great and good man\u2019s\nlaw of life gave three hundred and fifty precepts, and man by following\nthem might hope for eternal consciousness; but though they were a good\nbasis for a moral character, they were the despair of those who tried\nto keep all three hundred and fifty of them in the hope of winning\neternal life.\n\n[16] Canton dialect word meaning mother.\n\n[17] A title of great honor given to followers of Confucius who have\nbeen known from childhood to maturity by many people as having observed\nthis law of Confucius faithfully.\n\n[18] In China the country boys go in the water to fish with hand nets\nand become experts in diving and swimming under water. The hand nets\nare about two feet wide and three feet long.\n\n[19] Pupils. Chinese school children in small country places sit at a\nlong table to study. Sometimes there are from forty to sixty at one\ntable.\n\n[20] A huge oyster about three feet square and weighing twenty pounds,\nwhich is said to have existed at that time (about one thousand years\nago), but is now extinct.\n\n[21] A Chinese sauce.\n\n[22] A Chinese mushroom which grows in the forests. It is very rare and\nmuch larger than the ordinary variety.\n\n[23] Yot, yee, sarm are Canton dialect words for one, two, three.\n\n[24] The Chinese picture the heart thus, with two sides:\n\nTo the larger side, everything is brought by the brain for the\nheart-judge, or conscience, to pass judgment on. If he pronounces the\nthought or feeling worthy, it goes into the memory, where it stays;\notherwise it is rejected.\n\n[25] Canton dialect.\n\n[26] A choice Chinese candy.\n\n[27] This is similar to the Occidental custom of shaking hands on an\nagreement.\n\n[28] The Chinese farmers have a rice churn which takes the final husk\noff the rice. It holds about two bushels and works with treadle very\nmuch like our old-fashioned dog churns. It takes the women about half\nan hour to churn (or thresh) one churnful of rice.\n\n[29] San Chi:\u2014A large and beautiful mountain bird with one feather of\nrarest loveliness. This feather is blue, of a peculiar iridescence, and\nsome of its long, curly fronds are white. The Chinese are superstitious\nabout this feather and think it has healing qualities. They sometimes\ntrap the San-Chi bird and pull its one beautiful feather, letting the\nbird go free. It is six years, the hunters say, until the lost feather\nis replaced. The San-Chi is very long lived, and its feathers are\ngreatly valued for fans.\n\n[30] At that time several nations were at war, and Confucius went to\nthe king of each nation, trying to persuade him that it was better to\nbe at peace. He went to the young King Loa-Bai first, as his was the\nstrongest of the kingdoms.\n\n[31] Bears\u2019 feet are considered a great delicacy by the Chinese.\n\n[32] The Chinese say that this is a true story which shows that the\nGeneral Gui S\u00fct Yun was a very good man and true. Otherwise the dream\nwould not have been given him.\n\n[33] In China the girls do not attend the private schools with the\nboys, after they are about twelve years old. A little education at home\nis considered enough for the girls, for the Chinese say, \u201cWe want our\nwomen to be gentle, kind and obedient, and too much wisdom might not be\ngood for them.\u201d\n\nThe attitude of the Chinese toward their women is paternal, but when\nthe women become mothers and raise a family (especially if there are\nsons) their power and influence increase with the years, and the mother\nwho lives in her son\u2019s home is a person of great importance to her son\nand his wife, who must serve her. Her wishes are deferred to and she is\ngranted willing service and obedience by all the household.\n\n[34] In China the favorite lily is red.\n\n[35] In China four names are given to a boy.\n\n1st. The \u201cmother name,\u201d which is given the child by the mother when it\nis born.\n\n2d. The \u201cschool name,\u201d given when he begins school and which he keeps\nthroughout his school days, his degree being given to him in this name.\n\n3d. At sixteen, when he becomes legally of age, he takes a \u201cgiven\nname,\u201d which is a variation of his school name and is the name by which\nhe is generally known throughout life.\n\n4th. About the time his education is completed the young man selects a\nname by which he is known only to his most intimate friends.\n\n[36] The literal meaning of \u201cLon-da-Tang\u201d is, \u201cNever stop growing.\u201d\nThis is a vine-like rattan brought from the Pang-Wu Island to China\nover a thousand years ago by some Chinese fishermen. It grows with\nwonderful rapidity, completely covering a house in about three years.\nIt affords valuable protection from the hot sun to the thin-roofed\nChinese houses.\n\n[37] Mrs. Rose Tree:\u2014The Chinese fables call all fruit or\nflower-bearing plants or trees, Mrs. or Miss. Trees, or plants that do\nnot bear flowers or fruits, are called Mr.","title":"Chinese fables and folk stories","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":37305}