Related by Kong Ho on the occasion of the all-water
disportment, under the circumstances previously set forth.

BEYOND the limits of the township of Yang-chow there dwelt a rich
astrologer named Wei. Reading by his skilful interpretation of the
planets that he would shortly Pass Above, he called his sons Chu,
Shan, and Hing to his side and distributed his wealth impartially
among them. To Chu he gave his house containing a gold couch; to Shan
a river with a boat; to Hing a field in which grew a prolific
orange-tree. "Thus provided for," he continued, "you will be able to
live together in comfort, the resources of each supplying the wants of
the others in addition to his own requirements. Therefore when I have
departed let it be your first care to sacrifice everything else I
leave, so that I also, in the Upper Air, may not be left destitute."

Now in addition to these three sons Wei also had another, the
youngest, but one of so docile, respectful, and self-effacing a
disposition that he was frequently overlooked to the advantage of his
subtle, ambitious, and ingratiating brothers. This youth, Kao,
thinking that the occasion certainly called for a momentary relaxation
of his usual diffidence, now approached his father modestly, and
begged that he also might be included to some trivial degree in his
bounty.

This reasonable petition involved Wei in an embarrassing perplexity.
Although he had forgotten Kao completely in the division, he had now
definitely concluded the arrangement; nor, to his failing powers, did
it appear possible to make a just allotment on any other lines. "How
can a person profitably cut up an orange-tree, a boat, an inlaid