Page:A history of Chinese literature - Giles.djvu/77

 and have seen the great ocean, you know your own insignificance, and I can speak to you of great principles.' "

(2.) " Have you never heard of the frog in the old well ? The frog said to the turtle of the eastern sea, well. I rest in the hollow of some broken brick. Swim- ming, I gather the water under my arms and shut my mouth. I plunge into the mud, burying my feet and toes ; and not one of the cockles, crabs, or tadpoles I see around me are my match. [Fancy pitting the happiness of an old well, ejaculates Chuang Tzu, against all the water of Ocean !] Why do you not come, sir, and pay me a visit ? ' l
 * Happy indeed am I ! I hop on to the rail around the

" Now the turtle of the eastern sea had not got its lefl leg down ere its right had already stuck fast, so it shrank back and begged to be excused. It then described the sea, saying, 'A thousand /* would not measure its breadth, nor a thousand fathoms its depth. In the days of the Great Yii, there were nine years of flood out of ten ; but this did not add to its bulk. In the days of T'ang, there were seven years out of eight of drought ; but this did not narrow its span. Not to be affected by duration of time, not to be affected by volume of water, such is the great happiness of the eastern sea.'

"At this the well-frog was considerably astonished, and knew not what to say next. And for one whose knowledge does not reach to the positive-negative domain, to attempt to understand me, Chuang Tzu, is like a

1 "To the minnow, every cranny and pebble and quality and accident of its little native creek may have become familiar ; but does the minnow under- stand the ocean tides and periodic currents, the trade-winds, and monsoons, and moon's eclipses . . .?" Sartor Resartus, Natural Supernaturalism.

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