Chinese Fairy Tales and Fantasies (Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library) (30 page)

—
Chuang Tzu

King Chao of the state of Ch’u lost his country. Yüeh the sheep butcher followed the king in flight. When King Chao returned to power, he intended to reward those who had remained with him. When Yüeh’s turn came, that follower said to the king’s messenger, “The king lost his country. I lost my butcher shop. The king regained his country. I regained my butcher shop. Since my position and my income have been restored, is any further reward necessary?”

This was reported to the king, who said, “Make him take it.”

This was reported to the sheep butcher, who said, “The king did not lose power through any fault of mine. And I never expected to suffer punishment for it. The king did not regain power through any merit of mine. So I never expected a reward for it.”

This was reported to the king, who said, “Have him appear before me.”

This was reported to the sheep butcher, who said, “The law of Ch’u says that no one may be presented to the king save for a great reward for great achievements. In this case I lacked the knowledge to keep the state from harm, and I lacked the courage to die resisting the traitors. When the enemy army entered the capital, I fled from the fighting out of fear, not because I was purposely following His Majesty. Now His Majesty wants to set the law aside and receive me. This is not the way for a subject to become publicly known.”

The king of Ch’u said to his commander of the army, “This Yüeh, the butcher, holds a position of little esteem, yet he expounds most loftily upon the duty of a subject. Would you invite him on our behalf to become one of the three chief ministers?”

This was reported to Yüeh, who said, “I understand that such a position is far above a butcher’s trade, and that a salary of ten thousand is far beyond what a sheep butcher could earn. But how could I, because of greed for office and wealth, allow my sovereign to have a reputation for absurd generosity? I do not deserve the honor. I wish to return to my trade.”

Thus Yüeh declined the reward for good.

—Chung Tzu

Yen Tzu was the prime minister of Ch’i. One day when he went out, his coachman’s wife watched her husband from the gates. The coachman was sheltered by a large awning befitting his rank. He laid the whip to the team of four horses, his spirits jaunty, his mood self-satisfied. But when he returned home, his wife said that she wanted to leave him. The coachman asked her reasons. “Yen Tzu is hardly five feet tall,” she replied, “and he is the prime minister, renowned among the lords of the realm. I have noticed that when he goes for a drive, he seems serious and reflective and always has an air of humility. You are more than six feet tall, but you serve others as a coachman and seem very pleased with yourself. That’s why I want to leave you.” Thereafter the coachman made less of himself. Yen Tzu was struck by the change and asked the reason. The coachman told Yen Tzu, who promoted him.

—Ssu-ma Ch’ien

King Hui of Chao called for his adviser Lin Hsiang-ju and said, “The king of Ch’in is offering to exchange fifteen towns for the royal jewel. Should we give it up?”

“Ch’in is strong, and we are weak,” replied Hsiang-ju. “We have no choice.”

“What if they take the jewel and don’t give us the towns?” King Hui asked.

Hsiang-ju said, “If Ch’in is offering its towns for the jewel and we refuse, we are in the wrong. If we present the jewel and they do not give the towns, they are in the wrong. Between these two possibilities, it seems better for us to have Ch’in in the wrong.”

“Whom can we send?” asked the king.

“If Your Majesty has no one else, I am willing to go as your representative to present the jewel. If the towns are handed over to us, the jewel will remain with Ch’in. If the towns are not handed over, I will undertake to have the jewel restored intact.”

And so King Hui of Chao sent Hsiang-ju west to deliver the jewel.

The king of Ch’in was seated upon his screened dais when he received Hsiang-ju. Hsiang-ju presented the jewel to the king, who was greatly pleased. He passed it around for his female escorts and his attendants to admire. And they all shouted, “Long live the king!”

Hsiang-ju concluded that the king of Ch’in had no intention of paying the fifteen towns for the jewel. So he stepped forward and said, “The jewel has a small flaw which I should like to point out to Your Majesty.”

The king handed the jewel to Hsiang-ju, who clutched it tightly, jumped back, and steadied himself against a pillar. He was so angry that his hair seemed to be pushing up against his cap!

“If Your Majesty wants this jewel,” Hsiang-ju cried, “you must send a letter to my king in Chao. He will confer with his advisers, who will all say that the state of Ch’in is so greedy that she is counting on her greater might to get our royal jewel! They will judge that your promises are empty and that you don’t intend to give us the towns in exchange. And they will decide not to part with the jewel! My own humble view is that even in the relations among ordinary people there can be no dishonesty. How much more faithful should great states be to this rule!”

Hsiang-ju continued, “For us to have thwarted the pleasure of the mighty state of Ch’in would have made no sense. And so my king, after spending five days in religious abstinence, sent me to deliver the royal jewel and humbly submit a letter to your court—out of reverence for your great state’s prestige and to show our respect. But when I arrived, I was received in a routine audience with little ceremony. And once you had the royal jewel, you passed it to the women around you in order to have a little amusement at my expense. I concluded that you had no intention of keeping your part of the bargain. That is why I have taken back the jewel. If Your Majesty tries to get it by force, I am going to smash my own head, together with the jewel, against this pillar.”

Hsiang-ju eyed the pillar as if he were about to carry out his threat. Fearing that the jewel would be destroyed, the king of Ch’in apologized. Then he called for an official to spread out a map, on which he indicated the fifteen sites he was assigning to Chao.

Hsiang-ju judged that the king of Ch’in was only pretending to cede the towns to Chao, so he said, “The royal jewel is a world-renowned treasure. The king of Chao had to offer it to you because he was afraid of you. Before my king sent the jewel, he purified himself for five days. Your Majesty should now do the same, and then should hold the full ceremonies for a state visitor. At that time I shall present the jewel.”

The king of Ch’in decided that he could not use force, so he agreed to the five days of ceremonial purification and housed Hsiang-ju in a splendid reception hall.

Hsiang-ju, however, still felt sure that the king of Ch’in would go back on his word. So he sent one of his men in plain dress back to Chao with the jewel. After the five days, the king of Ch’in opened the state ceremonies for Hsiang-ju. But Hsiang-ju said, “Not one of the last twenty kings of Ch’in has held to his commitments. I am truly fearful that I shall be deceived and thus fail my own state. For that reason I had one of my men take the jewel back to Chao, and I expect he has arrived by now.”

Hsiang-ju smiled persuasively and continued, “Ch’in is powerful and Chao is not. If Your Majesty would send a single envoy to our state, we will surrender the jewel at once. Now, if Ch’in with all its superiority will first relinquish the towns and confer them on Chao, how could we dare to retain the jewel and give offense to Your Majesty? Well I know that the crime of deceiving Your Majesty merits death, and I am willing to be thrown into the cauldron. All I ask is that Your Majesty consult with his advisers and consider my proposal fully.”

The king of Ch’in looked at his advisers and scowled. His attendants wanted to take Hsiang-ju to the dungeons, but the king
said, “If we kill Hsiang-ju we will never get the jewel, and the friendship between Ch’in and Chao will be broken. It would be better to treat him generously on this occasion and let him go home. I don’t think the king of Chao is going to cheat us over one jewel.”

The king received Hsiang-ju formally and, after a full ceremony, sent him home to Chao.

—Ssu-ma Ch’ien