The Textile Merchant 布贩

The following story is from ‘Gossips from the Micro-reading Hall’.

Textile merchant Jiang always walked around with his big floral colour dog. On one such walk, he met an old man who stopped him. Jiang asked for the reason as he had never met this person before. The old man suddenly kow-towed and said, ‘I am actually a fox and had wrongly killed you in our previous existence. Three days later you will get you dog to sever my throat (as revenge). All these are predestined and I dare not try to escape the punishment. However, I have thought it over that my wrong had happened more than a hundred years ago, and since then, you have been reborn to become a human being and I have been downgraded as a fox. What satisfaction you will get in seeing me being killed by the dog? Moreover, you could not even recall about the incident now. I am willing to offer my daughter to you as penance for my sins.’

Jiang said, ‘I would not want to have anything to do with a fox, nor I want to take advantage of this situation to have your daughter. I can forgive you but what must I do to ensure that my dog would not mow you down when the time comes?’

The old man said that Jiang would give him a signed statement of release to say that he is willing to forgive him voluntarily. He would then pass the statement to the supreme deity. With this, the dog would not kill him. It was the rule that the victim would decide whether he would pardon the offender, and the supreme deity would not interfere. Jiang wrote out the release in a note and the old man left happily with it.

Some years later, Jiang was on his way to the North and was crossing the great river when a sudden storm threatened to capsize the boat. The sail could not be lowered to alleviate the force of the wind and storm. Suddenly a person jumped on to the mast and cut the rope that fastened the sail to the ship. The sail flew into the river and the ship managed to regain its stability. All on board were saved. The old man who severed the rope looked like the fox. He disappeared suddenly.

People commented that this old fox had a sense of gratitude. But I think, this fox could not even save himself, how could he save his former benefactor? May be it was because the supreme deity wanted to reward Jiang by extending his life, so he sent the old fox to perform the task.

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以下故事来自《阅微草堂笔记》：

有姜挺者以贩布为业，恒携一花犬自随，一日独行，途遇一叟呼之住，问不相识，何见招？叟遽叩首有声，曰：我狐也，夙生负君命，三日后君当嗾花犬断我喉，冥数已定，不敢逃死，然窃念事隔百余年，君转生人道，我堕为狐，必追杀一狐，与君何益，且君已不记被杀事，偶杀一狐亦无所快于心，愿纳女自赎可乎？

姜曰：我不敢引狐入室，亦不欲乘危劫人女，贳则贳汝，然何以防犬终不噬也？

曰：君但手批一帖，曰某人夙负，自原销除，我持以告神，则犬自不噬。冤家债主，解释须在本人，神不违也。适携记簿纸笔，即批帖予之。叟喜跃去。

后七八载，姜贩布渡大江，突遇暴风，帆不能落，舟将覆，见一人直上樯竿杪，掣断其索，骑帆俱落，望之似是此叟，转瞬已失所在矣。

皆曰：此狐能报恩。余曰：此狐无术自救，能数千里外救人乎？此神以好生延其寿，遣此狐耳。

The Death of Hou Yi 后羿之死

The Chinese notion of moral responsibility was explained by Mencius (371-289 BC) when he cited the case of the famously skilful archer Hou Yi who was shot by a student Feng Meng who had mastered everything Yi had taught him. Mencius considered Hou Yi should also be held responsible for his own death because he failed to make a sound judgment before taking someone into his confidence.

However, Mencius’ purpose in citing the story is also to show just the opposite that the shot was indeed a bad one because it assaulted the ritual (li) on several fronts. By killing his teacher - presumably for fame, as the student would have then been the best archer in the land - the student simultaneously ignored the importance of the student-teacher relationship and the norms that maintain it, threatened the integrity of the tradition, and reduced the skill to a mere means that allowed him to attain an external good.

The followings are extracted from the book ‘Mencius’.

Feng Meng learned archery of Hou Yi. When he had acquired completely all the science of Hou Yi, he thought that in the entire kingdom only Hou Yi was superior to himself, and so he slew him.

Mencius said, ‘In this case Hou Yi also was to be blamed.’

Gong Meng Yi said, ‘It would appear as if he were not to be blamed.’

Mencius said,

But he thereby only meant that his blame was slight. How can he be held without any blame? The people of Zheng sent Zi Zhuo Ru Zi to make a stealthy attack on Wei, which sent Yu Gong Zhi Si to pursue him. Zi Zhuo Ru Zi said, ‘I feel unwell today, so much that I cannot hold my bow. I am a dead man!’

At the same time he asked his driver, ‘Who is it that is pursuing me?’ The driver said, ‘It is Yu Gong Zhi Si,’ on which, Zi Zhuo Ru Zi exclaimed, ‘I shall live.’

The driver said, ‘Yu Gong Zhi Si is the best archer of Wei, what do you mean by saying 'I shall live?'’

Zi Zhuo Ru Zi replied, ‘Yu Gong Zhi Si learned archery from Yin Gong Zhi Tuo, who again learned it from me. Now, Yin Gong Zhi Tuo is an upright man, and the friends of his selection must be upright also.’

When Yu Gong Zhi Si came up, he said, ‘Master, why are you not holding your bow?’ Zi Zhuo Zhi SI answered him, ‘I am feeling unwell today, and cannot hold my bow.’ On this Yu Gong Zhi Si said, ‘I learned archery from Yin Gong Zhi Tuo, who again learned it from you. I cannot bear to injure you with your own skills. However, the prince has ordered me to deal with you, which I dare not neglect.’

He then took his arrows, knocked off their steel points against the carriage-wheel, discharged four of them, and returned.

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孟子（公元前370-289）以后羿被杀来说明道德责任。后羿在当时是最有名的好弓箭手，逢蒙学会了后羿所有手艺后把后羿杀死。孟子认为后羿对自己的死也有责任，因为他不能慧眼识人。

但是，孟子讲这个故事的目的也是要表明逢蒙的那一箭实在是‘坏’箭，因为它与礼节不符。杀死他的老师 - 看来是为了名誉吧，因为他的老师是当时最好的射手 - 这个学生忽略了师生的关系，与用于维持这种关系的准则，因而危害了传统的完整，这样就把一门技艺当成是获得体外利益的工具。

以下是《孟子》所记载的故事：

逢蒙学射於羿，尽羿之道；思天下惟羿为愈己，於是杀羿。

孟子曰：‘是亦羿有罪焉。’

公明仪曰：‘宜若无罪焉。’

曰：

薄乎云尔，恶得无罪！郑人使子濯孺子侵卫，卫使庾公之斯追之。子濯孺子曰：‘今日我疾作，不可以执弓，吾死矣夫！’

问其仆曰：‘追我者谁也？’其仆曰：‘庾公之斯也。’曰：‘吾生矣！’

其仆曰：‘庾公之斯，卫之善射者也。夫子曰：“吾生。”何谓也？’

曰：‘庾公之斯学射於尹公之他，尹公之他学射於我。夫尹公之他，端人也，其取友必端矣。’

庾公之斯至，曰：‘夫子何为不执弓？’曰：‘今日我疾作，不可以执弓。’曰：‘小人学射於尹公之他，尹公之他学射於夫子。我不忍以夫子之道，反害夫子。虽然，今日之事，君事也，我不敢废。’

抽矢扣轮，去其金，发乘矢而後反。

Grinding a Bar of Steel into a Needle 磨杵成针

The tendency with Chinese culture to emphasise hard work may be related to the legends and stories which have inspired people for generations. A well known story on Li Bai says a determined mind can grind a bar of steel into a needle, which obvious emphasises the strong determination to carry out a task. Li Bai, the famous poet lived during the Tang dynasty (618-907), is known to be a poetic genius. However, the famous story obviously points to the theory that Li Bai’s success was really due to his hard work and persistence in carrying out his learning tasks.

It is said that Li Bai was fond of playing when he was young, so he was always absent-minded in classes. One day he would catch little birds on the hill, and another day he would pick dates on the other hill.

One day, he saw an old lady sitting at the riverside when he was crossing the brook. The old lady was grinding an iron pestle without fear of tiredness. On seeing this, Li Bai laughed at her and said: “People who do this job are fools.”

The old lady answered kindly: “I am determined to grind the iron pestle into a needle even if the iron pestle is so thick and hard.” Li Bai took the iron pestle and felt tired after grinding it for a minute. Then he complained: “Oh, how long can I get it done? I quit.” The old lady shook her head and sighed: “The pestle can be grinded into a needle, as long as you keep working hard.”

The old lady’s words were so worthwhile, and Li Bai remembered them by heart. From then on, he spared no pains to study, and became a great poet finally.

The story comes from ‘Categorised Collection of Accurate Stories’ which was written in Ming dynasty by Chen Renxi (1581-1636).

‘Young Li Bai was not good in his studies. One day, he saw an old lady grinding a bar of steel and asked what she was doing. The old lady replied that she was making it into a needle. Li Bai was touched by what she said and from then on, he studied hard and graduated with good results.’

The Chinese phrase ‘grinding a bar of steel into a needle’ is now a famous proverb which is used to mean no matter how difficult or challenging a task is, it can be done as long as there is perseverance.

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华人文化强调用功读书，可能是受到不少传说与故事的鼓舞。一个出名的有关李白的故事叙述坚强的决心可以把一根铁棒磨成针，显然是强调做事需要的是决心。著名的唐朝（618-907）诗人李白诗个天才诗人。但是，这个有名的故事显然是指向这样的一个学说，就是李白的成功其实是由于他用功与对学习的坚持。

据说，李白小时候特别贪玩，一到上课就走神。今天这山捉小鸟，明天那山去摘枣。下了山过小河，河边坐着老婆婆。老婆婆不怕累，正磨一根铁棒锤。李白看了笑呵呵，说：‘傻子才干这种活呢！ ’

老婆婆慈祥地说：‘不怕铁棒粗又硬，我要磨成绣花针！ ” 李白拿过铁棒锤，没磨几下就喊累，说：“哎呦，什么时候能磨成啊？我不干了！’ 老婆婆摇摇头，叹息道：‘只要功夫深，铁杵磨成针！’

老婆婆的话值千金，李白牢牢记在心。从此读书不怕苦，成了一位大诗人。

这个故事出自明朝陈仁锡（1581-1636）的《潜确类书》卷六十：

‘李白少读书，未成，弃去。道逢老妪磨杵，白问其故。曰：‘欲作针。’白感其言，遂卒业。’

‘磨杵成针’就成为有名的成语，指的是不管事情是多么的困难，只要有毅力，一定会成功。