Chinese and Arabian Literature - E. Wilson - The Search For Mecca

78
CONFUCIUS
" Duke King of Ts'i liad his thousand teams of four, yet on
the day of his death the people had nothing to say of his goodness.
Peh-I and Shuh-Ts'i starved at the foot of Shau-yang,
and the people make mention of them to this day.
' E'en if not wealth thine object be,
'Tis all the same, thou'rt changed to me.'
"Is not this apropos in such cases?"
Tsz-k'in asked of Pih-yu, " Have you heard anything else
peculiar from your father ? "
" Not yet," said he.
" Once, though, he was standing alone
Not
when I was hurrying past him over the vestibule, and he said,
' Are you studying the ' Odes ?
'
yet,' I replied. ' If
you do not learn the Odes,' said he, ' you will not have the
wherewithal for conversing.' I turned away and studied the
Odes. Another day, when he was again standing alone and
I was hurrying past across the vestibule, he said to me, ' Are
you learning the Rules of Propriety ? '
' Not yet,' I replied.
' If you have not studied the Rules, you have nothing to stand
upon,' said he. I turned away and studied the Rules.—These
two things I have heard from him."
Tsz-k'in turned away, and in great glee exclaimed, " I asked
one thing, and have got three. I have learnt something about
the Odes, and about the Rules, and moreover I have learnt
how the superior man will turn away his own son."
The wife of the ruler of a State is called by her husband
" My helpmeet." She speaks of herself as " Your little hand-
maiden." The people of that State call her " The prince's help-
meet," but addressing persons of another State they speak of
her as " Our little princess." When persons of another State
name her they say also " Your prince's helpmeet."