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

The people of Yüeh three times in succession killed their ruler, and the prince Sâu{fr. 2}, distressed by it, made his escape to the caves of Tan, so that Yüeh was left without a ruler. The people sought {fn. 1. See note {frr. 150@3}, p. 150.} {fn. 2. Sze-mâ Khien takes up the history of Yüeh at a later period, and we have from him no details of this prince Sâu. Tan-hsüeh was the name of a district in the south of Yüeh, in which was a valley with caves containing cinnabar;--the fabled home of the phœnix.} {p. 152} for the prince, but could not find him, till (at last) they followed him to the cave of Tan. The prince was not willing to come out to them, but they smoked him out with moxa, and made him mount the royal chariot. As he took hold of the strap, and mounted the carriage, he looked up to heaven, and called out, 'O Ruler, O Ruler, could you not have spared me this?' Prince Sâu did not dislike being ruler;--he disliked the evil inseparable from being so. It may be said of him that he would not for the sake of a kingdom endanger his life; and this indeed was the reason why the people of Yüeh wanted to get him for their ruler. 2. Han{fr. 1} and Wei{fr. 1} were contending about some territory which one of them had wrested from the other. Dze-hwâ Dze{fr. 2} went to see the marquis Kâo-hsî (of Han){fr. 3}, and, finding him looking sorrowful, said, 'Suppose now that all the states were to sign an agreement before you to the effect that "Whoever should with his left hand carry off (the territory in dispute) should lose his right hand, and whoever should do so with his right hand should lose his left hand, but that, nevertheless, he who should carry it off was sure to obtain the whole kingdom;" would your lordship feel yourself able to carry it off?' The marquis said, 'I would not carry it off,' and Dze-hwâ rejoined, 'Very good. Looking at the thing from this point of view, your two arms are of more value to you than the whole kingdom. But