Duke Ching of Ch`i was walking on top of Cow Mountain.
Looking to the north out over Ch`i he said, "What a fine state!
How luxuriant and flourishing![2]
Where shall I go when I leave
this?" And he bowed his head and wept until [the tears] wet his
lapel.
3Omit [OMITTED], which occurs later on in its proper context. Here it
makes no sense, and is missing in the YTCC versions. Lieh-tzŭ inserts the phrase
after [OMITTED] and follows it with "Where shall I go when I leave this," as
in HSWC but with [OMITTED] for the more archaic [OMITTED]. On the admittedly insufficient
evidence at hand, I suggest that this paragraph in Lieh-tzŭ was composed on the basis
of YTCC and an already defective HSWC text.
Kuo-tzŭ and Kao-tzŭ said, "You are right. We ministers are
dependent on Your Highness' bounty to eat [even] coarse food and
bad meat, and to ride in worn-out carriages [drawn by] broken-down
horses, but still we do not wish to die. How much the less
Your Highness!" And they too[4]
bowed their heads and wept.
Yen-tzŭ laughed[5]
and said, "What pleasure! On today's trip
I have seen one frightened prince and two flattering ministers. If
from antiquity there were no [such thing as] death, then T`ai-Kung
would still be alive today, and you, my Prince, right now would
be standing in the fields wearing a grass garment and a straw hat,
with only your work to worry about;[6]
what time would you have
to think of death?"
Duke Ching was ashamed and lifted up a beaker to punish
himself, and in the same way punished the two ministers.
