ke your bow when at the lower end of the hall'; but
nowadays the bowing is done at the upper part. This is great freedom;
and I, though I go in opposition to the crowd, bow when at the lower
end."

The Master barred four words:--he would have no "shall's", no
"must's", no "certainly's", no "I's."

Once, in the town of K[']wang fearing that his life was going to be
taken, the Master exclaimed, "King Wan is dead and gone; but is not
'_wan_'[21] with you here? If Heaven be about to allow this '_wan_' to
perish, then they who survive its decease will get no benefit from
it. But so long as Heaven does not allow it to perish, what can the
men of K[']wang do to me?"

A high State official, after questioning Tsz-kung, said, "Your Master
is a sage, then? How many and what varied abilities must be his!"

The disciple replied, "Certainly Heaven is allowing him full
opportunities of becoming a sage, in addition to the fact that his
abilities are many and varied."

When the Master heard of this he remarked, "Does that high official
know me? In my early years my position in life was low, and hence my
ability in many ways, though exercised in trifling matters. In the
gentleman is there indeed such variety of ability? No."

From this, the disciple Lau used to say, "'Twas a saying of the
Master: 'At a time when I was not called upon to use them, I acquired
my proficiency in the polite arts.'"

"Am I, indeed," said the Master, "possessed of knowledge? I know
nothing. Let a vulgar fellow come to me with a question--a man with an
emptyish head--I may thrash out with him the matter from end to end,
and exhaust myself in doing it!"

"Ah!" exclaimed he once, "the ph[oe]nix does not come! and no symbols
issue from the river! May I not as well give up?"

Whenever the Master met with a person in mourning, or with one in
full-dress cap and kirtle, or with a blind person, although they might
be young persons, he would make a point of rising on their appearance,
or, if crossing their path, would do so with quickened step!

Once Yen Yuen exclaimed with a sigh (with reference to the Master's
doctrines), "If I look up to them, they are ever the higher; if I try
to penetrate them, they are ever the harder; if I gaze at them as if
before my eyes, lo, they are behind me!--Gradually and gently the
Master with skill lures men on. By literary lore he gave me breadth;
by the Rules of Propriety he narrowed me down. When I desire a
respite, I find