Page:Zhuang Zi - translation Giles 1889.djvu/88

54. The wise, however, would regard them as extremely auspicious.


 * Readers of Don Juan will recollect how the master's mate had reason to share his view.

There was a hunchback named Su. His jaws touched his navel. His shoulders were higher than his head. His hair knot looked up to the sky. His viscera were upside down. His buttocks were where his ribs should have been. By tailoring, or washing, he was easily able to earn his living. By sifting rice he could make enough to support a family of ten.


 * In all of which occupations a man would necessarily stoop.

When orders came down for a conscription, the hunchback stood unconcerned among the crowd. And similarly, in matters of public works, his deformity shielded him from being employed.

On the other hand, when it came to donations of grain, the hunchback received as much as three chung,


 * An ancient measure of uncertain capacity.

and of firewood, ten faggots. And if physical deformity was thus enough to preserve his body until its allotted end, how much more would not moral and mental deformity avail!


 * A moral and mental deviation would be still more likely to condemn a man to that neglect from his fellows which is so conducive to our real welfare.