University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER XVI.

Fictitious Prodigies (Yi-hsü).

At the time of the emperor Kao Tsung of the Yin dynasty a
mulberry and a paper-mulberry tree[712] grew together in his court.[713]
After seven days, they were so thick already, that they would take
two hands to span them. Kao Tsung summoned his physiognomist
and asked him about it. The physiognomist replied that, though
he knew, he could not tell it. Then Tsu Chi was questioned, who
said, "The mulberry and the paper-mulberry are wild plants; their
growing in the court denotes the down-fall of the dynasty."

Kao Tsung terrified began to practise virtue with stooping
body. He would ponder over the government of former kings,
illustrate the principle of feeding the old, regenerate extinguished
States, re-establish the succession of extinct princely houses, and
raise obscure scholars. Upon this the two trees died. Three years
later, the princes of six States appeared at his court with interpreters,[714]
and subsequently he enjoyed a hundred years of happiness.[715]

Kao Tsung was a wise sovereign. Alarmed at the growth of
the two trees, he interrogated Tsu Chi. Following his counsel, he
reformed his administration and personally changed his proceedings.
The prodigy of the two trees then disappeared, the princes offered
their allegiance, and he reigned many years. Owing to the earnestness
of his reforms, plenty of lucky auguries and blessings came
down upon him. This is a fiction.

Tsu Chi declared that the down-fall of the dynasty was
impending. The ruin of a dynasty is like the death of an individual.

A man being about to die, miracles appear. When a dynasty is
on the verge of ruin, its time is up, and when a man expires, his
fate is fulfilled. After his death he does not live again, nor does
he continue to exist after his departure. How could Tsu Chi's reference
to the government[716] have averted the ruin, or how could Kao
Tsung's reforms have helped to avoid the disaster? A private person,
beholding horrid signs, does not obtain luck by doing good; how
then should Kao Tsung, on perceiving the prodigy, be able to avert
the misfortune by changing his government? It being impossible
to avert misfortune, how can the six States have been attracted,
and how the king's life been prolonged up to a hundred years?

Human life and death depend on the length of the span, not
on good or bad actions, and so is the subsistence and decay of a
State determined by the duration of its time,[717] not by the management
or mismanagement of affairs. Tsu Chi explained the mulberry
and paper-mulberry as an augury of decay. When this sign of
ruin had already appeared, the discharge of filial duties was of no
avail. What evidence can we adduce?

Under Duke Chao of Lu a mainah appeared and built its nest.[718]
Shi Chi traced up a queer ditty of boys of the time of Wên and
Ch`êng referring to the mainah, and seeing that now it really had
come and built its nest, he explained it as a bad omen. Subsequently
Duke Chao was expelled by the Chi family and retreated
to Ch`i. His dukedom in fact became empty and desolate, and his
capital deserted. The appearance of the wild bird, which built
its nest, was in Shi Chi's opinion indicative of misfortune, and so
he explained it.

If Duke Chao, upon hearing Shi Chi's interpretation, had
reformed and improved his administration, following Kao Tsung's
example, he would, after all, not have succeeded in breaking the
spell, because the portent of the queer saying concerning the mainah
had already appeared, and the calamity of the duke's flight was
already completed, for this portent of the mainah had become
manifest during the time of Duke Wên and Ch`êng. If a branch has
leaves, why should it not blossom? And if a' spring pours out
its water, why should it not grow?[719]

But this event is of comparatively recent date and may not
suffice to bear out our thesis. When the downfall of the Hsia
dynasty was imminent, two dragons fought together in the court.
They spat their saliva and vanished. The king of Hsia preserved
it in a casket. The Hsia were destroyed and succeeded by the Yin,
and the Yin were destroyed and succeeded by the Chou. They all
did not open the casket, until under king Yu[720] it was opened and
inspected. The saliva oozed out in the court and was transformed
into a black lizard, which slipped into the seraglio, where it had
commerce with a woman. This, later on, resulted in the birth of
Pao Sse.[721]

When Pao Sse was introduced into the palace of Chou, King
Li[722] became stultified by her, and the State went to rack and
ruin. The time from the age of Kings Yu and Li to the Hsia
epoch was more than a thousand years;[723] when the two dragons
struggled, Yu, Li, and Pao Sse were not yet born. The presage of
the destruction of the Chou dynasty already appeared long before
it came to pass.

When a bad augury comes forth, the calamity cannot but be
completed, and when a lucky sign appears, felicity is sure to arrive.
If the two dragons, at the time of their contest, said that they
were two princes of Pao,[724] this was a proof of the future birth of
Pao Sse. The dragons bearing the name of Pao, Pao Sse could not
help being born, and she being born, King Li could not help being
depraved, and he being depraved, the State could not avoid being
ruined. The signs were there, and even if the Five Sages[725] and
the Ten Worthies[726] had interceded to remove them, all their endeavours
to blot them out would have been in vain.

Good and evil are similar so far. When good omens come
forth, a State is sure to flourish, and when evil ones become visible,
a dynasty must needs perish. To say that evil portents can be
removed by good actions, is like affirming that good auspices can
be wiped away by bad government.

The Yellow River springs from the K`un-lun, and then branches
off into nine channels. Should Yao and Yü have attempted to turn
the waters back by their excellent administration, they would have
been utterly powerless to make them revert, for such is the nature
of water, that human force cannot stop it. The springs of the
Yellow River could not be stopped, and the two dragons not be
removed. Accordingly, it was impossible to prevent the mulberry
and the paper-mulberry trees from growing.

A king's life about to prosper is like the breath of spring
becoming summer, and his death like the autumnal air becoming
winter. Beholding the leaflets of spring, one knows that in summer
there will be stalked leaves, and viewing the dropping fruit in
autumn, one foresees the dried branches of winter. A propos of
the growth of the mulberry and the paper-mulberry, it is also quite
plain that they must be like the vernal leaves and the autumnal
fruit. How could they be removed by a thorough overhauling of
the government and personal reforms?

Now, the presage of the down-fall of the Chou dynasty
appeared already in the Hsia epoch; how do we know but that
the growth of the two trees was denoting the fall of King Chou?[727]
Perhaps Tsu Chi believed in the explanation of wild plants which
he gave, but did not estimate the distance of time correctly. Kao
Tsung, having questioned Tsu Chi, took to doing good, his body
bent down, and accidentally the princes of the six States arrived
at his court. Kao Tsung's life was naturally long and not yet near
its close; then people said that, after the inquiry concerning the
two trees, he changed his government, reformed his own conduct,
and enjoyed a hundred years of happiness.

The mulberry and paper-mulberry grew most likely for
Chou's sake, or perhaps they were lucky and not inauspicious,
wherefore the Yin dynasty did not decline, and Kao Tsung's life
lasted long. Tsu Chi, however, trusting in his interpretation that
they were wild plants, declared them to be signs of an impending
catastrophe.

At the time of the Han emperor, Hsiao Wu Ti, a white unicorn
was caught. It had two horns, but they touched. The gentleman-usher
Chung Chün was called upon to give his opinion. "It is a
wild animal," he said, "its horns joined together as the land under
heaven unites and forms one whole."[728]

The unicorn is a wild animal, and the mulberry and paper-mulberry
trees are wild plants. Both being wild, what difference
is there between the animal and the plants? Chung Chün pronounced
the animal to be auspicious, but Tsu Chi held the wild plants to
be inauspicious.

When Kao Tsung was sacrificing in the temple of Ch`êng T`ang,
a pheasant came flying along, alighted on the tripod, and screamed.
Tsu Chi saw in it the announcement of the arrival of men from distant
lands.[729] The commentators of the Shuking, on the other hand, regard
pheasants as inauspicious. Both views are conflicting. According
to Tsu Chi's statement the arrival of pheasants is propitious.

Pheasants hide amidst wild plants, which screen the bodies
of wild birds. If people live in a straw hut, can they be said to
be auspicious, but their cottage to be inauspicious? When such
people go into the capital, they are not held to be inauspicious.[730]
Why then cannot wild plants growing in a court be propitious?
Pheasants must, in this respect, be treated like men.[731]

If living creatures with blood in their veins are held to be
auspicious, then the arrival of a tall Ti[732] would be so as well, why
then call it unlucky? Should all that comes from the I and the
Ti[733] not be auspicious, the visit of Ko Lu of Chieh[734] at court must
have been unlucky. If, however, plants and trees are believed to be
unpropitious, then the appearance of the "vermilion grass" and of
the "monthly plant" were not auspicious.

The vermilion grass and the monthly plant are both herbaceous;
they should grow in the country and, if they grow in court, it is
not auspicious. Why then are they looked upon as lucky omens?
According as a wild growing thing comes or goes, it is treated
either as lucky or unlucky. If the vermilion grass and the monthly
plant are believed to be auspicious, owing to their excellence, then
the presage depends on goodness or badness, and their quality is
not influenced by the site of their growth, whether it be in the
capital or in the country.

During the Chou period, universal peace reigned throughout
the empire. The Yueh-ch`ang[735] presented the Duke of Chou with
pheasants. Kao Tsung likewise obtained one, which he regarded
as lucky. A pheasant is also a creature living in the grass and
in the country, for what reason is it considered to be a good
omen? If it is on account of a portion of the character chih
(pheasant)[736] bearing a resemblance to shih (a scholar),[737] then there
is also a likeness between a deer, chün,[739] and a superior man, chün.[740]

Kung-Sun Shu[741] got a white stag; wherefore did he explain it
as an unlucky augury? Ergo we come to the conclusion that it
is impossible to know whether a pheasant be propitious or not,
nor can we prove whether the meaning of a mulberry and a
paper-mulberry be good or bad.

Perhaps they were something good, intimating that scholars
from afar would walk into the temple of Kao Tsung, therefore the
latter obtained luck and happiness, which he enjoyed ever so long.

Those arguing on calamitous prodigies stand convinced that
Heaven makes use of calamitous phenomena for the purpose of
rebuking the emperor. When the emperor has faults, prodigies
appear in the State. If he does not change, calamities become
visible on plants and trees, if he does not change then, they
manifest themselves on the Five Grains, and should he not reform
even then, they attain his own person.[742]

The "Spring and Autumn" of Tso Ch`iu Ming says that there
are few States which have not five harvests, when they are going
to perish. Calamities become visible on the Five Grains; how then
can they grow ripe? Their not ripening is a sign of impending
ruin, for ruin is likewise a feature of calamity, to which the not
ripening of the Five Grains corresponds. When Heaven does not

mature them, this may be a calamity or a blessing,[743] happiness and
misfortune are therefore difficult to distinguish, and what is said
about the mulberry and the paper-mulberry cannot be correct.

The theorists all write in their books[744] and their notes that,
when Heaven rains grain, this is an ill omen, and in various books
and chronicles we read that, [when Tsang Hsieh invented writing,
Heaven rained grain, and the ghosts cried during the night.][745] This
must be accounted a lugubrious prodigy; why did Heaven use
something so harmonious to produce it? The production of grain
is a kind gift from Heaven, very harmonious and also looked upon
as something excellent. And the grain produced came down
following upon rain? If we thoroughly go into the matter, for
what reason must it be an ill omen? When the Yin and the Yang
harmonise, the harvest grows, otherwise it is spoiled by calamities
and disasters. The harmony of Yin and Yang resulting in the
production of grain, how can it be called inauspicious?

Raw silk is wrought into pongees, and of hempen threads
cloth is made. To present a man with silk and hemp is already
conferring a valuable gift upon him, but how much more precious
would be silken fabrics and woven cloth? Silk and hemp correspond
to the Yin and the Yang, pongees and cloth are like the ripe grain.
A present of pongees cannot be called bad, why then should grain,
this heavenly gift, be considered unlucky? Since the good or bad
presage of raining grain cannot be made out, the statement about
the mulberry and the paper-mulberry must also remain doubtful.

If "fragrant grass" grew in the Chou epoch, at times of
universal peace people would have brought presents of this grass
with them. It also grows in the open country exactly like the
mulberry and the paper-mulberry. If the I and the Ti had presented
it, it would have been lucky, but should it have grown in
the court of Chou, would it also have been deemed good?

Fragrant grass can be used for the distillation of spirits, its
perfume being very intensive. By pouring out this perfumed wine
at sacrifices, the spirits are called down. Provided that this grass
had spontaneously grown in the court of Chou, it would not have

been different from auspicious grain, vermilion grass, or the monthly
plant.[746]

Furthermore, mulberry trees feed the silk-worms, which make
silk. This silk is worked into pongees, and these pongees, into
dresses. Clad in these robes, people enter the ancestral temple,
using them as court-dresses. The evolution is similar to that of
the fragrant grass, why then are those trees held to be a bad augury?

When the heir-son of Duke Hsien of Wei[747] arrived at the
Spirit Tower, a snake wriggled round the left wheel of his chariot.
The charioteer said to him, "Prince descend and pay your respects.
I have heard say that, when a snake curls round the left cartwheel
of the son of the chief of a State, he will soon be seated
on the throne." — But the Prince did not descend and returned
to his residence.

The charioteer called upon him, and the prince said, "I have
heard say that a man's son lives in perfect accord with his master.
He does not cherish selfish desires and receives his commands
with reverence and awe. He does nothing which might impair
the health of the sovereign. If I now come into possession of
the State, the sovereign must lose his health. To see only the
lustre of the crown and forget the welfare of the ruler is not
what a son ought to do. That I prostrate myself, in order to
come to the dukedom, would hardly be according to the sovereign's
wishes. He who disobeys the duties of a son, is undutiful, and
he who acts contrary to the wishes of his sovereign, is not loyal.
And yet you desire me to do it? The dangers of my wishing to
assume the reins of government are evident enough."

Then he tried to commit suicide by jumping down from the
palace. His charioteer attempted to stop him, but in vain. He
threw himself into his sword and gave up his ghost.[748]

If the curling of a snake round the left wheel really implied
the speedy accession of the prince, he ought not to have died,
and Duke Hsien should have expired at once. Now the duke did
not die, but the crown-prince fell into his sword. Therefore the
explanation of the charioteer was the idle talk of common people.

Perhaps the snake foreshadowed the imminent death of the
prince, and the charioteer, placing confidence in the popular interpretation,

failed to grasp the real meaning of the portent. The
growth of the mulberry and paper-mulberry resembles the snake
curling round the left wheel. As a matter of fact, its arrival was
unlucky, but the charioteer fancied it to be lucky, and so the
two trees were in fact auspicious, but Tsu Chi thought them of
ill omen.

[When Yü, on his journey south, crossed the Yangtse, a yellow
dragon carried his boat on its back. The men in the boat turned
pale as ashes,[749] but Yü was amused and said laughing, "I have
received the decree of Heaven and harrass myself to succour the
thousands of people. My life lasts awhile, and death is a return.
It being but a return, how can it upset my serenity? I look upon
a dragon as a lizard." Then the dragon disappeared.][750]

In ancient and modern times the arrival of a dragon is
commonly regarded as something very lucky, Yü alone declared a
yellow dragon to be a bad presage, and when they saw it lifting
the boat, the men in the boat took fright.

The mulberry and the paper-mulberry may be compared with
the dragon, for, though their auguries be reversed, there is still a
similarity. Wild plants growing in court are held to be unlucky,
but, there being an extraordinary case like the yellow dragon
carrying the boat, they became lucky, and the Yin dynasty did
not perish.

Duke Wên of Chin was going to try issues with King Ch`êng
of Ch`u at Ch`êng-p`u,[751] when a "broom star"[752] proceeded from Ch`u,
which held its stick.[753] The matter was referred to Chiu Fan,[754] who
replied, "In fighting with brooms he who turns them round wins."

Duke Wên dreamt that he was wrestling with King Ch`êng,
who gained the upper hand, and sucked his brains. Chiu Fan being

questioned, rejoined, "Your Highness could look up to Heaven,
while Ch`u was bending down under the weight of its guilt. The
battle will prove a great victory."[755]

The duke followed his advice and completely defeated the
army of Ch`u. Had Duke Wên consulted an ordinary officer
previously, he would certainly have denied the possibility of a
victory, for a broom star is inauspicious, and the upper hand in
wrangling not an adverse prognostic.

The mulberry and the paper-mulberry were pronounced ill-omened,
as the fact of Chin being opposite to the besom and the
duke's succumbing in the struggle, were deemed bad auguries. These
trees were significant of luck all the same, like the curious phenomena
of being over against the broom star and looking up to Heaven,
whence Kao Tsung's long reign and the salvation of the Yin dynasty.

If Duke Wen had not asked Chiu Fan, if the latter had not
been aware of the lucky augury, and if then a great victory had
been won, the people would have urged that, by virtue of his
extreme wisdom, Duke Wên had worsted iniquitous Ch`u, and that,
in spite of the prodigy appearing in the sky and of the horrible
dream, the adverse presage and the unfavourable portent were
wiped out and dispersed, and happiness secured. The Yin could
not boast of a man with Chiu F`an's extraordinary knowledge,
having only their Tsu Chi, who shared the common prejudices.
Accordingly the narrative of the two trees has been handed down
without ceasing, and up to the present day the notion that misfortune
can be transmuted into happiness has not yet been rectified.