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PT. II. SECT. XIII.
THE WRITINGS OF KWANG-SZE.
27
BOOK XX.
Part II. Section XIII. Shan Mû, or 'The Tree on the Mountain 1.'
1. Kwang-gze was walking on a mountain, when he saw a great tree with huge branches and luxuriant foliage. A wood-cutter was resting by its side, but he would not touch it, and, when asked the reason, said, that it was of no use for anything. Kwang-zze then said to his disciples, 'This tree, because its wood is good for nothing, will succeed in living out its natural term of years. Having left the mountain, the Master lodged in the house of an old friend, who was glad to see him, and ordered his waiting-lad to kill a goose and boil it. The lad said, 'One of our geese can cackle, and the other cannot ;—which of them shall I kill ?' The host said, 'Kill the one that cannot cackle.'
Next day, his disciples asked Kwang-ze, saying, · Yesterday the tree on the mountain (you said) would live out its years because of the uselessness of its wood, and now our host's goose has died because of its want of power (to cackle) ;—which of these conditions, Master, would you prefer to be in ?' Kwang-zze laughed and said, “ (If I said that) I would prefer to be in a position between being fit to be useful and wanting that fitness, that would
i See vol. xxxix, p. 151. * Compare the accounts of great trees in I, par.6; IV, par.1; et al.
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