________________
PT. 1. SECT. vi.
THE WRITINGS OF KWANG-3ZE.
245
got It, and by It dwelt in the Dark Palace. Yü-khiang1 got It, and by It was set on the North Pole. Hsî Wang-mû” got It, and by It had her seat in (the palace of Shâo-kwang. No one knows Its beginning; no one knows Its end. Phăng 3d got It, and lived on from the time of the lord of Yü to that of the Five Chiefs 3. Fû Yüeh 4 got It, and by It became chief minister to Wll-ting 4, (who thus) in a trice became master of the kingdom. (After his death), Fû Yüeh mounted to the eastern portion of the Milky Way, where, riding on Sagittarius and Scorpio, he took his place among the stars.
8. Nan-po Zze-khwei 5 asked Nü Yü, saying, You are old, Sir, while your complexion is like that of a child ;-how is it so ?' The reply was, 'I have become acquainted with the Tâo. The
other said, 'Can I learn the Tâo?' Nü Yü said, : 'No. How can you? You, Sir, are not the man
to do so. There was Pa-liang Î? who had the abilities of a sagely man, but not the Tâo, while I had the Tâo, but not the abilities. I wished, however, to teach him, if, peradventure, he might
1 The Spirit of the Northern regions, with a man's face, and a bird's body, &c.
2 A queen of the Genii on mount Khwăn-lun. See Mayers's Manual, pp. 178, 179.
& Phăng 30 has been before us in Bk. I. Shun is intended by the Lord of Yü. The five Chiefs ;see Mencius, VI, ii, 7.
4 See the Shû, IV, viii; but we have nothing there of course about the Milky Way and the stars. This passage certainly lessens our confidence in Kwang-sze's statements.
5 Perhaps the same as Nan-po Zze-khî in Bk. IV, par. 7.
6 Must have been a great Taoist. Nothing more can be said of him or her.
7 Only mentioned here.
Digitized by Google