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

3. A son of the duke of Zän{fr. 1}, having provided himself with a great hook, a powerful black line, and fifty steers to be used as bait, squatted down on (mount) Kwâi Khî, and threw the line into the Eastern Sea. Morning after morning he angled thus, and for a whole year caught nothing. At the end of that time, a great fish swallowed the bait, and dived down, dragging the great hook with him. Then it rose to the surface in a flurry, and flapped with its fins, till the white waves rose like hills, and the waters were lashed into fury. The noise was like that of imps and spirits, and spread terror {fn. 1. I suppose this was merely a district of Khû, and the duke of it merely the officer in charge of it;--according to the practice of the rulers of Khû' after they usurped the title of King.} {p. 134} for a thousand lî. The prince having got such a fish, cut it in slices and dried them. From the Keh river{fr. 1} to the cast, and from Zhang-Wû{fr. 2} to the north, there was not one who did not eat his full from that fish; and in subsequent generations, story-tellers of small abilities have all repeated the story to one another with astonishment. (But) if the prince had taken his rod, with a fine line, and gone to pools and ditches, and watched for minnows and gobies, it would have been difficult for him to get a large fish. Those who dress up their small tales to obtain favour with the magistrates are far from being men of great understanding; and therefore one who has not heard the story of this scion of Zän is not fit to take any part in the government of the world;--far is he from being so{fr. 3}.