Han shih wai chuan :: :: University of Virginia Library

Duke Huan of Ch`i went out walking and met an old man who
was wearing flowing garments and proceeding. . . . (?)[1] In his belt
he was carrying a peach wood staff.[2] Duke Huan asked in surprise,

"What do you call that? In what classic does it occur? What
section does it occupy?[3] How do you exorcise with it? Why do
you avoid me?"[4]

The old man said, "This is called `two peach.'[5] The word t`ao
(peach) means to be lost.[6] Now what worries can there be for one
who daily is careful about t`ao? Just as the altars of a lost state
are a warning to the feudal lords, the common man's warning is
in this peach staff."

Duke Huan was pleased with his words and carried him in his
chariot. By the first month of the next year the common people
all wore it.

The Ode says,[7]

The beacon of Yin is not far distant.

[1]

[OMITTED] must be descriptive of his gait, but I am unable to find a satisfactory
definition of the expression so used. Chu Ch`i-fêng's atempt (TT 1763) to equate [OMITTED]
with [OMITTED] *diag and [OMITTED] *ngo is to be rejected.

[2]

[OMITTED]. The expression [OMITTED] (for variants cf. TT 84) is of common occurrence,
but is defined as a kind of bamboo. Here it is necessary to preserve [OMITTED] in its meaning
of "peach." As the word is a homophone of [OMITTED] "to expel," peach wood was used
to expell noxious influences (cf. Tso chuan 596, Chao 4).

[3]

I. e., what textual justification have you for carrying such a thing?

[4]

[OMITTED] does not make good sense in context. A possibility would be to read [OMITTED] for
[OMITTED], making a term [OMITTED] roughly synonymous with [OMITTED].

[5]

[OMITTED]. Sun I-jang (Cha-i 2.3b) would emend [OMITTED] to [OMITTED] "warning."

[6]

[OMITTED]: cf. HSWC 5/14 [OMITTED]. By analogy
one would expect [OMITTED] to precede this phrase.

[7]

Shih 510 No. 255/8.