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24 THE ANALECTS: INTRODUCTION.
_, and here K'ung Chia's great-grandson Fang Shu
It/ ]i_ obtained the governorship of the town of _ from
which he derived his name, and where the grandfather
of Confucius, Po Hsia {_ _ was born. Po Hsia's son,
our Sage's father, Shu Liang Ho ;_ _ _, was noted for
his strength and courage. Once when attacking a city
the enemy, by a ruse, enticed his men within the open
gate, and were already lowering the portcullis to entrap
them just as Shu Liang Ho reached it. Such was his
prowess that, laying hold of the portcullis with both
hands, he succeeded in supporting it till the last of his
men had escaped.
This brave officer had passed the age of three score
years and ten ere his illustrious son saw the light.
Already nine daughters had been born to him by his
first wife, also by a concubine a cripple son, M_ng P'i,
(gi; J_ alias {_ fl_), But now, though advanced in
years, he again found a wife, so youthful a maiden that the
ancient historian Ssu-ma Ch'ien, B. C. 163-85, speaks o_
the marriage as _ ,_- an irregular union, which by some
Chinese scholars has been unnecessarily interpreted as an
indication that Confucius was a natural child, but which
is generally believed to refer to the disparity in age
between husband and wife, It would be gratifying to
have no legendary phenomena to record connected with
the Sage's birth, but as they exist, and throw light on
the exaggerated value at which later ages have assessed
him, it seems necessary to briefly introduce them here.
A spirit is said to have appeared to his mother _ ;i_
saying to her : "You shall have a son, a sage, and you