Page:Chinese Fables and Folk Stories.djvu/127

Rh are like the hunter, the snipe, and the bivalve. They ought to live in peace. They are lost when they fight among themselves."

Then Yung-Moi drew a picture of the warring countries for his pupils.

"One and Three represent two nations at war with each other. One asks Two's permission to pass an army through his country that he may fight Three. While the army of One is away from home, the people get in a fight among themselves and civil war follows. Number Two takes advantage of the situation and in the absence of Number One's army (who is trying to overpower Three), conquers Number One easily. Number Two then owns the nations One and Two, and with this added strength goes to the land of Number Three and conquers him, so that all three countries now belong to Number Two."