66 CHINESE LITERATURE
mosquito trying to carry a mountain, or an ant to swim a river, they cannot succeed."
(3.) "Chuang Tzu was fishing in the P'u when the prince of Ch'u sent two high officials to ask him to take charge of the administration of the Ch'u State.
"Chuang Tzu went on fishing, and without turning his head said, * I have heard that in Ch'u there is a sacred tortoise which has been dead now some three thousand years. And that the prince keeps this tortoise carefully enclosed in a chest on the altar of his ancestral temple. Now would this tortoise rather be dead, and have its remains venerated, or be alive and wagging its tail in the mud ? '
" ' It would rather be alive,' replied the two officials, ' and wagging its tail in the mud.'
" ' Begone ! ' cried Chuang Tzu. ' I too will wag my tail in the mud.' "
(4.) "Chuang Tzu one day saw an empty skull, bleached, but still preserving its shape. Striking it with his riding whip, he said, 'Wert thou once some ambitious citizen whose inordinate yearnings brought him to this pass ? some statesman who plunged his country in ruin, and perished in the fray ? some wretch who left behind him a legacy of shame ? some beggar who died in the pangs of hunger and cold ? Or didst thou reach this state by the natural course of old age ? '
"When he had finished speaking, he took the skull, and placing it under his head as a pillow, went to sleep. In the night, he dreamt that the skull appeared to him, and said, ' You speak well, sir ; but all you say has reference to the life of mortals, and to mortal troubles. In death there are none of these. Would you like to hear about death ? '
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