30 THE OPERATIONS AND MANIFESTATIONS 



Sea. Having crossed through to the limit of the North he 

 entered the Hsuan Ch'iieh mountain and arrived at the top 

 of the Meng Ku range. Here he met with a person whose 

 eyes were deep set, his temples covered with jet black hair, 

 tears stood in his eyes : he had the shoulders of a kite : his 

 head was generous above and receding below. 1 He seemed 

 full of merriment, as he danced in the breezes. He looked at 

 Lu Ao and appeared ill pleased to see him there : the arms, 

 that were swaying in his gyrations he let fall and he slipped 

 behind a stone column. Lu Ao came forward and looked at 

 him, just as he was seated on a tortoise shell and swallowing 

 oysters. Lu Ao addressed him thus, "I thought I was the 

 only individual who had turned his back on kith and kin to 

 get a thorough observation of the uttermost parts of the world. 

 As a young man I was fond of travel, nor have I changed 

 my habits in old age, so having traversed the four quarters 

 of the earth, I still had the extreme north unvisited. To-day 

 [find you, Sir, here ! may it not be possible that we may 

 be friends?" The man smilingly replied : "Hsi ! you are from 

 China and have chosen to come to this distant spot. But 

 you must'nt think this is very far. Here there are still the 

 sun and moon, the stars too are hung out here. Here the 

 Yin and Yang operate, and the four seasome come and go. 

 These parts compared with the unnameable places are still 

 central. But where I roam to the south there is. the bound- 

 less waste : to the north I stop in the profound gloom : to 

 the west there is an illimitable vista: on the east I go 

 beyond the orient. In these distant regions there is no 

 firmament above, nor earth below : there is no sound to be 

 heard, nor vista on which to gaze : still further on there is 

 only the sound as of rolling waters. Thither it is I have not 

 been able to reach. Now Sir, having reached this place to 

 which you have voyaged for the first time, you musn't think 

 you have reached the end of the world : as matter of fact 

 you are far from that. Best here, Sir: I must go to Han 

 Man, 2 beyond the range of the nine Heavens. I musn't 

 abide here long." This strange man then lifted his arms 

 and pulling together his body forthwith disappeared in the 

 clouds. Lu Ao looking after him saw him not. He 

 stopped his chariot. Feeling annoyed with himself, and 

 with the turn things had taken, he said, "compared with 

 that person I am no more than a yellow heron or a worthless 

 worm of the earth : I can only crawl a few feet in a whole 



'A sign of great intellectual powers. 



3 A mythical name of some deity unknown. 



