Forest of Persuasions, Part Two說林下

Bo Le taught two men how to judge a kicking horse, and they went together to Jianzi's stable to look at the horses. One man picked out a kicking horse. The other followed it from behind and stroked its rump three times, and the horse did not kick. The man who had picked it thought he had judged wrong. The other man said, "You did not judge wrong. This horse has a wrenched shoulder and a swollen knee. A kicking horse lifts its hind legs and throws its weight onto the front, and a swollen knee cannot carry the weight, so the hind legs do not come up. You are clever at judging a kicking horse, but clumsy about a swollen knee carrying weight." In every matter there is something it must come back to, and that a swollen knee makes the weight impossible to carry is known by the wise man alone. Huizi said, "Put an ape in a cage and it is the same as a pig." So where the position is not convenient, it is no place to show one's powers.

Wenzi, a general of Wei, called on Zengzi. Zengzi did not rise, but asked him to sit on the mat while he himself settled upright in the warm inner corner. Wenzi said to his driver, "What a foolish man Zengzi is! If he takes me for a gentleman, how can a gentleman not be respected? If he takes me for a violent man, how can a violent man be slighted? That Zengzi is not killed is only luck."

Among birds there is one called the zhouzhou. Its head is heavy and its tail is bent. When it means to drink at the river it is bound to pitch over, so another bird takes its feathers in its beak and holds it while it drinks. A man who has not enough to drink cannot but look for his feathers.

The paddy eel is like a snake and the silkworm is like a caterpillar. When a man sees a snake he is startled, and when he sees a caterpillar his hair stands up. Yet the fisherman handles paddy eels and the woman gathers silkworms. Where there is profit, every one of them becomes a Meng Ben or a Zhuan Zhu.

Bo Le taught the man he hated how to judge a horse of a thousand li, and taught the man he loved how to judge a worn-out nag. A horse of a thousand li comes only once in a while, and the profit is slow. A worn-out nag sells every day, and the profit is quick. This is what the Book of Zhou means by "Words that are low and yet used by those above are a delusion."

Huan He said, "In the way of carving, nothing is better than making the nose big and nothing is better than making the eyes small. A big nose can be made small, but a small one cannot be made big. Small eyes can be made big, but big ones cannot be made small." Taking up an affair is the same. Arrange it so that it can be undone afterward, and few of your affairs will come to grief.

Chong Hou and E Lai knew they would not be put to death by the tyrant Zhou, but they did not see that King Wu would wipe them out. Bi Gan and Wu Zixu knew their lords were bound to fall, but they did not know that they themselves would die. So it is said, "Chong Hou and E Lai knew the heart and did not know affairs. Bi Gan and Wu Zixu knew affairs and did not know the heart." The sage has both.

The Grand Steward of Song was honored and had taken over his lord's decisions. Jizi was about to have audience with the lord of Song, and Liangzi heard of it and said, "Whatever you say must be fit to be said with the Grand Steward sitting there as a third. Otherwise you will not escape harm." So Jizi persuaded him with words that made the ruler honored and the state light.

Yang Zhu's younger brother Yang Bu went out in white clothes. It rained, so he took off the white clothes and came back wearing black ones, and his dog did not know him and barked at him. Yang Bu was angry and was about to strike it. Yang Zhu said, "Do not strike it. You would be just the same. Suppose your dog had gone out white and come back black. Could even you help thinking it strange?"

Huizi said, "When Yi puts on his thumb ring and his armguard, takes up his bow and sets the string, then even a man of Yue will vie to hold the target for him. But when a small child draws a bow, even a loving mother goes into the house and shuts the door." So it is said, "When the hit is certain, even a man of Yue does not doubt Yi. When the hit is not certain, even a loving mother runs from her young child."

Duke Huan asked Guan Zhong, "Has wealth an end to it?" He answered, "The end of water is where there is no water. The end of wealth is where that wealth is already enough. A man cannot stop himself at enough, and so he loses the end of his wealth."

Among the rich merchants of Song there was one called Jian Zhizi. He was bidding against another man for a piece of rough jade worth a hundred in gold, and he made a show of dropping it and broke it. He paid over the hundred in gold, then worked the broken place smooth and got a thousand yi for it. In affairs there are cases where taking a thing up and coming to grief is better than never taking it up, and the time of paying damages is one of them.

There was a man who wanted an audience with the King of Chu on the strength of his driving, and all the grooms were jealous of him. So he said, "Your servant can run a deer down and strike it." He was brought before the king. When the king drove, he could not come up with the deer. When the man drove, he came up with it. The king praised his driving, and then he told the king how the grooms had been jealous of him.

Chu ordered a prince to attack Chen. An old man saw him off and said, "Jin is strong, and you cannot fail to be careful." The prince said, "What is there for you to worry about? I will break Jin for you." The old man said, "Very well. I shall build myself a hut outside the south gate of Chen." The prince said, "What do you mean by that?" He said, "I am laughing at Goujian. If doing this for another man is so easy, why did he alone spend ten hard years at it in secret?"

Yao offered to yield the world to Xu You, and Xu You fled from it and lodged with a household, and the people of the house hid his leather cap. Here was a man who had thrown away the world, and the people of the house hid his leather cap. That is not knowing Xu You.

Three lice were quarreling with one another, and another louse passed by and said, "What is the quarrel about?" The three said, "We are fighting over the fat and plentiful ground." The one louse said, "Do you not worry that the twelfth month is coming and the thatch will be dry for burning? What else in this is there to worry about?" So they gathered together and bit into their mother, the pig, and fed on her. The pig grew thin, and then the people did not kill it.

Among insects there is one called the hui. It has one body and two mouths, and they fight over food and bite each other. In the end they kill each other, and so it kills itself. Ministers who fight over affairs and bring their state to ruin are all of the hui's kind.

A palace is whitewashed and vessels are washed, and then they are clean. Conducting oneself is the same. Where there is no place that needs washing or whitewashing, there is little fault.

Prince Jiu was about to raise a revolt, and Duke Huan sent an envoy to observe him. The envoy reported, "He laughs without being glad and looks without seeing. He will surely raise a revolt." So the duke had the men of Lu kill him.

Gongsun Hong cut off his hair and became a horseman of the King of Yue. Gongsun Xi sent a man to break with him, saying, "I will be your brother no longer." Gongsun Hong said, "I cut off my hair. You will have your neck cut off, handling troops for another man. What am I to call you?" In the battle of Zhounan, Gongsun Xi died.

A man whose neighbor was a violent fellow wanted to sell his house and get away from him. Someone said, "That man's crimes will soon be full. Wait a while." He answered, "I am afraid he will fill up his crimes on me." And in the end he left. So it is said, "Where a thing already shows its first sign, that is no place to linger."

Confucius said to his disciples, "Who can draw out Zixi's fishing for a name?" Zigong said, "Your servant can." So he drew him out, and Zixi doubted him no more. Confucius said, "How generous he is, not covered over by profit! How clean he is, for the nature of the people has its constancy! He calls the crooked crooked and the straight straight." Confucius said, "Zixi will not escape." In the troubles raised by Bai Gong, Zixi died. So it is said, "The man who is straight in his conduct is bent in what he wants."

Zhonghang Wenzi of Jin was fleeing the state and passed through a district town. One of his followers said, "The clerk of this place is an old friend of yours. Why do you not stop and rest here and wait for the carts behind?" Wenzi said, "I once liked music, and this man gave me a singing zither. I liked girdle jade, and this man gave me a jade ring. He was a man who fed my faults. One who sought favor with me in that way, I am afraid, will seek favor with others by means of me." And he went on. Sure enough, the man seized two of Wenzi's rear carts and presented them to his own lord.

Zhou Zao said to Gong Tuo, "Speak to the King of Qi for me. Say that if he backs me in Wei with the weight of Qi, I will have Wei serve him." Gong Tuo said, "That will not do. It shows him that you have no hold on Wei. The King of Qi will surely not back a man who has no hold on Wei and so draw the resentment of the man who has one. It would be better for you to say, 'As Your Majesty wishes, your servant will have Wei listen to you.' Then the King of Qi will take it that you do have a hold on Wei, and will surely work through you. That gives you Qi, and with it you will have both Qi and Wei."

Bai Gui said to the Grand Intendant of Song, "Once the lord is grown and knows government for himself, you will have nothing to do. Now he is a young lord and works for a name, so nothing is better than having Chu congratulate him on his filial piety. Then he will not take your place from you, but will greatly respect and honor you, and you will always be employed in Song."

Guan Zhong and Bao Shu said to each other, "The lord's disorder is very great, and he is bound to lose the state. Of the princes of Qi, the ones worth supporting are Prince Jiu and Xiaobai. Let each of us serve one of them, and whichever of us gets there first shall take in the other." So Guan Zhong followed Prince Jiu and Bao Shu followed Xiaobai. The men of the state did indeed kill their lord. Xiaobai entered first and became lord, and the men of Lu bound Guan Zhong and handed him over, and Bao Shu spoke for him and had him made prime minister. So the proverb says, "Wu Xian was good at prayer, but could not wash away his own misfortune. The physician of Qin was good at driving out sickness, but could not put the needle into himself." With all the sageness of Guan Zhong, he still waited on Bao Shu's help. This is what the common saying means: "When a slave sells his own fur coat it does not sell, and when a gentleman praises his own eloquence he is not believed."

The King of Chu attacked Wu, and Wu sent Ju Wei and Jue Rong to bring food and drink to the Chu army. The general said, "Bind them. I will kill them and smear their blood on the drums." Then he questioned them and said, "Did you take the omens before you came?" They answered, "We did." "Were the omens lucky?" They said, "They were lucky." The man of Chu said, "Now Chu means to smear its drums with your blood. How do you account for that?" They answered, "That is just why they were lucky. Wu sent your servants here to see whether the general would be angry. If the general is angry, he will dig his moats deep and raise his ramparts high. If the general is not angry, he will grow slack. Now if the general kills your servants, Wu will surely be on its guard. Besides, a state takes omens not for the sake of one servant. To kill one servant and keep a whole state, if that is not to be called lucky, what is? And if the dead have no knowledge, then smearing the drums with us is of no use. If the dead do have knowledge, then when the time to fight comes, your servants will keep the drums from sounding." At this the men of Chu did not kill them.

Zhi Bo meant to attack Chouyou, but the road was hard and did not go through, so he cast a great bell and sent it to the lord of Chouyou. The lord of Chouyou was greatly pleased and set about clearing a road to bring it in. Chi Zhang Manzhi said, "You must not. This is how a small state serves a great one, and now a great one has sent it to us. Troops are bound to follow it. It must not be brought in." The lord of Chouyou would not listen and brought it in at last. Chi Zhang Manzhi thereupon cut down his axle hubs and drove off, and reached Qi. In seven months Chouyou was gone.

Yue had already beaten Wu, and now it asked Chu for soldiers in order to attack Jin. Yixiang, the scribe of the left, said to the King of Chu, "Yue has broken Wu. Its bold officers are dead, its keen soldiers are spent, and its heavy armor is damaged. That it now asks for soldiers to attack Jin is to show us that it is not ailing. Better to raise an army and share out Wu with them." The King of Chu said, "Good." So he raised an army and went along with Yue. The King of Yue was angry and was going to strike at them. The great officer Zhong said, "You must not. Our bold officers are spent and our heavy armor is damaged. If we fight them we shall surely not win. Better to buy them off." So they cut off five hundred li on the north side of Mount Lu and gave it as a bribe.

Chu attacked Chen, and Wu came to the rescue, the two armies thirty li apart. It rained for ten days, and then at night the stars came out. Yixiang, the scribe of the left, said to Ziqi, "It has rained ten days, so their armor is stowed away and their weapons are piled together. The men of Wu are bound to come. Better to be ready for them." So he drew up the ranks. The ranks were not yet formed when the men of Wu arrived, saw the Chu ranks, and turned back. The scribe of the left said, "Wu has covered sixty li going and returning. Their officers will be resting and their common men will be eating. If we go thirty li and strike them, we can surely break them." They did as he said, and broke the army of Wu.

Han and Zhao were at odds with each other. Han asked Wei for soldiers, saying, "We wish to borrow an army to attack Zhao." Marquis Wen of Wei said, "I am brother to Zhao, and cannot go along with it." Then Zhao asked for soldiers to attack Han, and Marquis Wen said, "I am brother to Han, and dare not go along with it." The two states got no soldiers and went back angry. Later they came to see that Marquis Wen had been making peace between them for their own sake, and both of them then came to court at Wei.

Qi attacked Lu and demanded the Chan tripod, and Lu sent a false one instead. The man of Qi said, "It is false." The man of Lu said, "It is the true one." Qi said, "Have Yuezheng Zichun come and say so, and I will listen to you." The lord of Lu asked Yuezheng Zichun to do it, and Yuezheng Zichun said, "Why do you not send the true one?" The lord said, "I am fond of it." He answered, "Your servant too is fond of his own good faith."

Han Jiu was to be set up as ruler, but it was not yet settled. His younger brother was in Zhou, and Zhou wished to give the brother weight, and yet feared that Han Jiu would not be established. Qiwu Hui said, "Nothing is better than sending him back with a hundred chariots. If Han Jiu is established, we say it was for the brother's protection. If he is not established, we say we have come to hand over a rebel."

The lord of Jingguo was going to wall the town of Xue, and many of his guests remonstrated. The lord of Jingguo said to his usher, "Let no guest through." A man of Qi who asked to see him said, "Your servant asks for three words only. If I go beyond three words, I ask to be boiled." So the lord of Jingguo saw him. The guest hurried forward and said, "Sea big fish." Then he turned and ran off. The lord of Jingguo said, "I beg to hear what you mean." The guest said, "Your servant does not dare make a game of death." The lord of Jingguo said, "I wish you to say it for me." He answered, "Have you heard of the big fish? Nets cannot hold it and corded arrows cannot catch it. But let it be tossed up and lose the water, and mole crickets and ants have their way with it. Now Qi too is your sea. If you hold Qi for long, what use is Xue to you? If you lose Qi, then though you raised the wall of Xue to the sky it would still be of no use." The lord of Jingguo said, "Good." So he stopped, and did not wall Xue.

The younger brother of the King of Chu was in Qin, and Qin would not let him go. An officer of the inner guard said, "Furnish your servant with a hundred in gold, and your servant can get him out." So he loaded up the hundred in gold and went to Jin, saw Shuxiang, and said, "The King of Chu's younger brother is in Qin, and Qin will not let him go. I ask to leave this hundred in gold with you." Shuxiang took the gold, went to see Duke Ping of Jin, and said, "You may wall Huqiu now." Duke Ping said, "How so?" He answered, "The King of Chu's younger brother is in Qin and Qin will not let him go, so Qin is on bad terms with Chu and will surely not dare stop us from walling Huqiu. If they do stop us, we say, 'Let out the King of Chu's brother for us and we will not wall it.' If they let him out, we gain Chu. If they do not let him out, then they are on bad terms with Chu for good, and they will surely not dare stop us from walling Huqiu." The duke said, "Good." So he walled Huqiu, and said to the lord of Qin, "Let out the King of Chu's brother for us and we will not wall it." Qin then let him go. The King of Chu was greatly pleased, and sent a hundred yi of refined gold to Jin.

Helü attacked Ying, won three battles, and asked Wu Zixu, "May we withdraw now?" Wu Zixu answered, "When a man is being drowned, if he is made to swallow water once and then let be, he is not drowned, because he has been let rest. Better to ride the force of it and push him under."

A man of Zheng had a son who was leaving to take office, and the son said to the household, "You must build up the broken wall. As it is, it is no good, and someone will steal from us." A man of the lane said the same thing. The wall was not built in time, and sure enough someone did steal from them. They thought their son wise, and took the man of the lane who had told them for the thief.