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SECT. II. PT. III.
THE THAN KUNG.
193
and, moving to the right, he went round it thrice, crying out, “That the bones and flesh should return again to the earth is what is appointed. But the soul in its energy can go everywhere; it can go everywhere." And with this he went on his way. Confucius (also) said, “Was not Kl-gze of Yen-ling's observance of the rules of ceremony in accordance with (the idea of them)?
14. At the mourning rites for the duke Khâo of KA-lü ?, the ruler of Hsü sent Yung Kü with a message of condolence, and with the articles to fill the mouth of the deceased. “My unworthy ruler,' said he, ‘hath sent me to kneel and put the jade for a marquis which he has presented into your (deceased) ruler's mouth. Please allow me to kneel and do so. The officers of Kü replied, “When any of the princes has deigned to send or come to our poor city, the observances have been kept according to their nature, whether simple and easy, or troublesome and more difficult; but such a blending of the easy and troublesome as in your case, we have not known. Yung Kü replied, 'I have heard that in the service of his ruler one should not forget that ruler, nor be oblivious of his ancestral (rules). Formerly, our ruler, king Kü, in his warlike operations towards the west, in which he crossed the Ho, everywhere used this style of speech. I am a plain, blunt man, and do not presume to forget his example 2?
1 Khảo should probably be Ting. Duke Khâo lived after the period of the Khun Khid, during which the power of Hsü had been entirely broken.
· Here was Yung Kü, merely a Great officer, wishing to do what only a prince could do, according to the rules of propriety.
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