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PT. III. SECT. X.
THE WRITINGS OF KWANG-SZE.
203
and their power is but slight; and yet they treated me as I have said :-how much more would the lord of ten thousand chariots do so! His body burdened with (the cares of his) kingdom, and his knowledge overtasked by its affairs, he would entrust those affairs to me, and exact from me the successful conduct (of its government). It was this which frightened me.' Po-hwăn Wu-zăn replied, 'Admirable perspicacity! But if you carry yourself as you do, men will flock to you for protection.'
Not long after, Po-hwăn Wa-zăn went (to visit Lieh-zze), and found the space outside his door full of shoes? There he stood with his face to the north, holding his staff upright, and leaning his chin on it till the skin was wrinkled. After standing so for some time, and without saying a word, he was going away, when the door-keeper? went in, and told Lieh-zze. The latter (immediately) took up his shoes, and ran barefoot after the visitor. When he overtook him at the outer) gate, he said, 'Since you, Sir, have come, are you going away without giving me some medicine : ?' The other replied, * It is of no use. I did tell you that men would flock to you, and they do indeed do so. It is not that you can cause men to flock to you, but you cannot keep them from not so coming ;-of what use is (all my warning)? What influences them and makes them glad is the display of your extraordinary (qualities); but you must also be influ
See the Lî kî (vol. xxvii, pp. 70, 71). It is still the custom in Japan for visitors to leave their shoes outside, in order not to soil the mats.
Whose business it was to receive and announce the guests. s Good advice.
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