Sacred Books of the East Vol. 40 - Taoism Vol. 2

When Hsü Wû-kwei came out, Nü Shang said to him, 'How was it, Sir, that you by your counsels produced such an effect on our ruler? In my counsellings of him, now indirectly, taking my subjects from the Books of Poetry, History, Rites, and Music; now directly, from the Metal Tablets{fr. 2}, and the six Bow-cases{fr. 2}, all calculated for the service (of the {fn. 1. Literally, 'I physiognomise dogs.'} {fn. 2. The names of two Books, or Collections of Tablets, the former {footnote p. 93} containing Registers of the Population, the latter treating of military subjects.} {p. 93} state), and to be of great benefit;--in these counsellings, repeated times without number, I have never seen the ruler show his teeth in a smile:--by what counsels have you made him so pleased to-day?' Hsü Wû-kwei replied, 'I only told him how I judged of dogs and horses by looking at their appearance.' 'So?' said Nü Shang, and the other rejoined, 'Have you not heard of the wanderer{fr. 1} from Yüeh? when he had been gone from the state several days, he was glad when he saw any one whom he had seen in it; when he had been gone a month, he was glad when he saw any one whom he had known in it; and when he had been gone a round year, he was glad when he saw any one who looked like a native of it. The longer he was gone, the more longingly did he think of the people;--was it not so? The men who withdraw to empty valleys, where the hellebore bushes stop up the little paths made by the weasels, as they push their way or stand amid the waste, are glad when they seem to hear the sounds of human footsteps; and how much more would they be so, if it were their brothers and relatives talking and laughing by their side! How long it is since the words of a True{fr. 2} man were heard as he talked and laughed by our ruler's side!'