Revenge on the East Sea
Long ago, Emperor Yan had a daughter called Nyuwa. They was pretty, lovely & had a powerful will. They was keen on swimming & often went to the East Sea, playing with the blue waves, enjoying the pleasure of being close to Nature.
Rain or shine, they never rested; summer or winter, they kept on working. Even now, they is still busying herself together with her task.
But day while swimming, they was drowned. Her soul would not give in, though, & broke through the water & became a Jinwei bird, with white-black spots on her head, a grey beak & red claws. They lost no time in seeking vengeance. Every day they picked up pebbles & sticks from the Western Mountains & dropped them in to the East Sea. They was determined to fill up the sea to revenge herself, to make it no longer able to drowning others.
Two mountains
A man was nearly ninety years old. He lived in a place facing two big mountains, the Taihang and the Wangwu. Each mountain was thousands of meters, and covered hundreds of square miles.
To travel around the mountains was troublesome for the old man, so one day he summoned his whole family and said to them, "How about removing these two mountains so that we have a straight road to Yuzhou?"
"Good idea!" The family shouted and agreed. Already next day the project went on its way. The old man's neighbour was a widow who had a son of about seven. They both came to the old man's aid, of their own will, speeding up the task.
Near the Huanghe River there lived another old man. When he heard about this, he felt it very stupid, and decided to go and make the other old man wiser. He said to him,
"How long do you think you can live on, so that you can remove these big mountains? Rest your old bones, rather, and be ready to go peacefully to heaven!"
The other looked at him, shook his head sadly, and sighed, "They say you are wise, but in my view even a donkey is wiser. It is true that I am on the edge of the grave. But I have sons; and my sons have their sons, and grandsons again. And the mountains are eroding. So why cannot we remove them in the end?"
The mountain deity, hearing this, felt greatly worried and depressed. Moved by the old man's resolve he will, he then carried away the two big mountains and made the old man's dreams come true.
Out fishing
The last king of the Shang dynasty was a tyrant. Jiang Shang, of his ministers, saw that the ruler stopped at no nasty, and managed to escape from his office, and settled in a secluded place near the Wei River, in an area that was dominated by Duke Jichang, and the duke was enthusiastic to attract gifted people in his service.
Talks about his queer way of fishing soon reached the duke's ear, and they sent some soldiers for him. Jiang, seeing the soldiers approaching, turned his back on them and said, "What a bad luck, small shrimps leaping in lieu of a fish!"
The escaped Jiang Shang used to sit at the Wei River, fishing with a straight hook, and with no bait on it. They stretched his pole, let his "hook" stay a meter away from the surface of the water, and sang, "Those that are worn out of living on those that are seeking their death, come up".
The soldiers' document resulted in an official being sent, and again Jiang overlooked him, saying, "What a pity, only a small fish appears, and I fail to catch the massive!"
Next the Duke came. They brought with him some precious gifts, and this time Jiang agreed to assist him. Jiang was made the duke's adviser, and later promoted to be prime minister. Under his wise leadership, the state grew stronger and stronger.
Some years later, Jiang assisted the descendents of the duke in sending an expedition against the king of the Shang dynasty. They defeated him and thus founded the Zhou dynasty.
Long ago, Emperor Yan had a daughter called Nyuwa. They was pretty, lovely & had a powerful will. They was keen on swimming & often went to the East Sea, playing with the blue waves, enjoying the pleasure of being close to Nature.
Rain or shine, they never rested; summer or winter, they kept on working. Even now, they is still busying herself together with her task.
But day while swimming, they was drowned. Her soul would not give in, though, & broke through the water & became a Jinwei bird, with white-black spots on her head, a grey beak & red claws. They lost no time in seeking vengeance. Every day they picked up pebbles & sticks from the Western Mountains & dropped them in to the East Sea. They was determined to fill up the sea to revenge herself, to make it no longer able to drowning others.
Two mountains
A man was nearly ninety years old. He lived in a place facing two big mountains, the Taihang and the Wangwu. Each mountain was thousands of meters, and covered hundreds of square miles.
To travel around the mountains was troublesome for the old man, so one day he summoned his whole family and said to them, "How about removing these two mountains so that we have a straight road to Yuzhou?"
"Good idea!" The family shouted and agreed. Already next day the project went on its way. The old man's neighbour was a widow who had a son of about seven. They both came to the old man's aid, of their own will, speeding up the task.
Near the Huanghe River there lived another old man. When he heard about this, he felt it very stupid, and decided to go and make the other old man wiser. He said to him,
"How long do you think you can live on, so that you can remove these big mountains? Rest your old bones, rather, and be ready to go peacefully to heaven!"
The other looked at him, shook his head sadly, and sighed, "They say you are wise, but in my view even a donkey is wiser. It is true that I am on the edge of the grave. But I have sons; and my sons have their sons, and grandsons again. And the mountains are eroding. So why cannot we remove them in the end?"
The mountain deity, hearing this, felt greatly worried and depressed. Moved by the old man's resolve he will, he then carried away the two big mountains and made the old man's dreams come true.
Out fishing
The last king of the Shang dynasty was a tyrant. Jiang Shang, of his ministers, saw that the ruler stopped at no nasty, and managed to escape from his office, and settled in a secluded place near the Wei River, in an area that was dominated by Duke Jichang, and the duke was enthusiastic to attract gifted people in his service.
Talks about his queer way of fishing soon reached the duke's ear, and they sent some soldiers for him. Jiang, seeing the soldiers approaching, turned his back on them and said, "What a bad luck, small shrimps leaping in lieu of a fish!"
The escaped Jiang Shang used to sit at the Wei River, fishing with a straight hook, and with no bait on it. They stretched his pole, let his "hook" stay a meter away from the surface of the water, and sang, "Those that are worn out of living on those that are seeking their death, come up".
The soldiers' document resulted in an official being sent, and again Jiang overlooked him, saying, "What a pity, only a small fish appears, and I fail to catch the massive!"
Next the Duke came. They brought with him some precious gifts, and this time Jiang agreed to assist him. Jiang was made the duke's adviser, and later promoted to be prime minister. Under his wise leadership, the state grew stronger and stronger.
Some years later, Jiang assisted the descendents of the duke in sending an expedition against the king of the Shang dynasty. They defeated him and thus founded the Zhou dynasty.
Robber Chih (On Right and Wrong)
Right and wrong in the eyes of kings and great robbers hardly differs at times.Chuang said:
Robber Chih seized the wives of others and had strength to fend off any enemy and
curse people in the vilest language. People all lived in dread of him. One day Confucius
(Kung Fu) went up to his camp and wanted to reform him. Robber Chih flew into a great rage
of it. His hair stood on end and bristled. He said,
"Crafly hypocrite, you make up your stories, babbling absurd eulogies of kings.
You pour out fallacious theories. By clacking your tongue you seem to invent "right" or
"wrong", and leading astray rulers - setting up ideal of "filial piety", and hoping to
worm your way into favour with the rich and eminent. You'd better run home. If you don't
I'll take your liver."
His voice sounded like the roar of huge tiger with glaring eyes. However,
Confucius managed to talk to him, due to utter politeness to his face. He wanted the
bandit to stand up as a gentleman of true talent, he said. Robber Chih could then win
further fame in step with the already established set-up affairs of things. The bandit
declined,
"Those who can be swayed with offers of gain are mere idiots. Who are fond of
praising men to their faces are also fond of damning them behind their back.
I have heard that in ancient times the birds and beasts were many. The Yellow
Emperor [legendary ancestor of the Chinese] could not attain the primal virtue of older
days. He fought instead, till blood flowed. Later it came about that the strong oppressed
the weak, the many abused the few. You come cultivating the way of kings, speaking your
deceits, leading astray, hoping thereby to lay your hands on wealth with your honeyed
words. How can this "way" of yours be worth anything? Even the Yellow Emperor could not
preserve his virtue. A close look into emperors and men of worldy gains and esteem shows
that all of them for the sake of gain brought confusion to the Truth - forcibly turned
against their true form. They deserve the greatest shame!" said Robber Chih. [Co 323-31, extracts]
"The clever man is well on guard against all sorts of disintegrating forces. He
senses danger before it's too late."
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