Page:A history of Chinese literature - Giles.djvu/79

 " Chuang Tzu having replied in the affirmative, the skull began : ' In death, there is no sovereign above, itnd no subject below. The workings of the four seasons are unknown. Our existences are bounded only by eternity. The happiness of a king among men cannot exceed that which we enjoy.'

" Chuang Tzu, however, was not convinced, and said, ' Were I to prevail upon God to allow your body to be born again, and your bones and flesh to be renewed, so that you could return to your parents, to your wife, and to the friends of your youth would you be willing ? '

"At this, the skull opened its eyes wide and knitted its brows and said, ' How should I cast aside happiness greater than that of a king, and mingle once again in the toils and troubles of mortality ? ' '

(5.) " The Grand Augur, in his ceremonial robes, ap- proached the shambles and thus addressed the pigs :

" ' How can you object to die ? I shall fatten you for three months. I shall discipline myself for ten days and fast for three. I shall strew fine grass, and place you bodily upon a carved sacrificial dish. Does not this satisfy you ? '

" Then speaking from the pigs' point of view, he con- tinued, ' It is better perhaps after all to live on bran and escape the shambles. . . .'

" ' But then,' added he, speaking from his own point of view, ' to enjoy honour when alive one would readily die on a war-shield or in the headsman's basket.'

" So he rejected the pigs' point of view and adopted his own point of view. In what sense then was he different from the pigs ? "

(6.) " When Chuang Tzu was about to die, his disciples expressed a wish to give him a splendid funeral. But

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