.--A man in Sung carved a mulberry-leaf in jade for his
prince. It took three years to complete, and was so well done,
so realistic in its down and glossiness, that if placed in a heap
of real mulberry-leaves, it could not be distinguished from them.
The State pensioned him as a reward; but Liehtse, hearing of it,
said: "If God Almighty took three years to complete a leaf,
there would be very few trees with leaves on them. The Sage will
rely less on human skill and science, than on the evolution
of Tao."

Lung Shu came to the great doctor Wen Chih, and said to him:
"You are the master of cunning arts. I have a disease; can you
cure it, Sir?" "So far," said Wen Chih, "you have only made
known your desire. Please let me know the symptoms of your
disease." They were, utter indifference to the things and events
of the world. "I hold it no honor to be praised in my own
village, nor disgrace to be decried in my native State. Gain
brings me no joy, loss no sorrow. I dwell in my home as if it
were a mere caravanserai, and regard my native district as though
it were one of the barbarian kingdoms. Honors and rewards fail
to rouse me, pains and penalties to overawe me, good or bad
fortune to influence me; joy or grief to move me. What disease
is this? What remedy will cure it?" *

------
* I may say here that though I am quoting the speeches more or
less directly from Dr. Lionel Giles' translation, too many
liberties are being taken, verbally, with the narative parts of
these stories, to allow quotation marks and small type. One
contracts and expands (sparingly, the latter); but gives
the story.
------

Wen Chih examined his heart under X-rays;--really and truly that
is in effect what Liehtse says.--"Ah," said he, "I see that a
good square inch of your heart is hollow; you are within a
little of being a true Sage. Six of the orifices are open and
clear, and only the seventh is blocked up. This last is
doubtless due to the fact that you are mistaking for a disease
what is in reality an approach to divine enlightenment. It is a
case in which my shallow art is of no avail."

I tell this tale, as also that other about the exchange of
hearts, partly to suggest that Liehtse's China may have had the
actuality, or at least a reminiscence, of scientific knowledge
since lost there, and only discovered in Europe recently. In the
same way one finds references to automatic oxen, self-moving
chariots, traveling by air