OF THE TAO EXEMPLIFIED IN HISTORY 19 



(23) Another case of Alfred and the Cakes. — Chu Chien, 

 the King of Yiieh failed to win in the war with Wu. He 

 lost his country and was invested at K'uei Chi. His anger 

 blazed, his courage rose like the gushing waters of a fountain. 

 Marshalling a chosen company of his soldiers they dashed 

 into the centre of the firey foe and it looked as they would be 

 annihilated. Finally he capitulated and became a servant 

 of Wu : his wife became a concubine. He peisonally carried 

 the musket before the King like a common soldier. Notwith- 

 standing he eventually took his master Wu a prisoner at 

 Kan Sui. Thus we find Lao Tzu saying : 



THE YIELDING SPIRIT WILL OVERCOME THE 



FIRM SPIRIT : 

 THE GENTLE SPIRIT WILL TRIUMPH OVER 



THE VIOLENT. 



There is no one in the world but knows this truth : yet- 

 no one puts it into practice. Yiieh Wang however put it 

 into action himself and rose to be the autocrat of China. 



(24) The Sportsman-spirit is of the essence of the Tao. — 

 Chao Chien Tzu died, and before his burial the magistrate of 

 Chung Mu transferred his allegiance to- Ch'i. Five days 

 after the burial Hsiang Tzu took his troops to the attack of 

 Chung Mu : however, before his soldiers were even posted 

 round the place, 100 feet of the wall fell down, wdiereupon 

 Hsiang Tzu sounded the retreat and withdrew. The com- 

 manders remonstrated with the Prince, maintaining that 

 Heaven itself showed its approval of their cause in punish- 

 ing the crime of Chung Mu in that it had caused the wall to 

 crumble of itself before them, a sure indication that they 

 shouldn't retire. The prince replied in these words "I have 

 heard that Hsti Hsiang used to say, 'The Superior Man 

 doesn't take advantage of an enemy's difficulty, nor press 

 him when he is in danger. ' Let them mend their breech and 

 we will renew the attack." The people of Mu on hearing of 

 this fine spirit begged that they be received back and 

 capitulated. This episode illustrates this saying of Lao Tzu : 



YOU HAVE ONLY NOT TO STRIVE AND NO ONE IN THE 

 EMPIRE WILL BE ABLE TO CONTEND WITH YOU. 



(25) A word to horse-buyers. — Duke Mu of Ts'in spoke 

 to the horse expert Pei Yoh asking him whether his son 

 Tzu Hsing, seeing he was old himself, could find a good 

 horse. His reply was that,' ' a good horse may be judged from 

 its form, stand, muscles and bones : but a super-excellent 

 horse was not to be judged by these outward points. In 

 looking for such a horse, form should be lost sight of, the 

 stand of the horse may be indecisive or need not be parti- 

 cularly good, the texture may be indifferent. A unique horse 



