Page:A history of Chinese literature - Giles.djvu/327

 in view of his scheme for seizing the persons of the various nobles, was naturally anxious that the post of arbiter should fall to one of his own officers, and was much displeased at this attempt on the part of Wu Yiian ; however, he replied that if the latter could dispose of the theme and carry round the sacrificial vessel, the office of arbiter would be his. Wu Yiian thereupon took a stylus and indited the following lines :

' The earth supports the sky; the sky supports the earth.

Five is the mystic number which to the universe gave birth.

Down from the sky come the eddying waves of the river's rolling might.

In the JCun-lun range we must seek the germ of the mountain's towering height.

By truth, of the elements five, can most good work be done;

And of all the ten thousand things that are, man is the wondrous one.

There you have my replies to the questions set this day ;

7 he answers are clear and straight to the point, and given with- out delay,'

11 As soon as he had finished writing, he handed his reply to Duke Ai, who at once saw that he had in every way disposed of the theme with far greater skill than Chi Nien, and accordingly now bade him show his strength upon the sacrificial vessel. Wu Yuan imme- diately stepped forward, and, holding up his robe with his left hand, seized the vessel with his right, raising it up and bearing it round the platform before the assembled nobles, and finally depositing it in its original place, without so much as changing colour. The nobles gazed at each other in astonishment at this feat, and with one accord declared him to be the hero of the day ; so that Duke Ai had no alternative but to invest him with the golden tablet and announce his appointment to the post of arbiter."

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