portions of the offerings were not sent round to the various
ministers, according to the established custom. Confucius
regretfully took his departure, going away slowly and by easy
stages [1]. He would have welcomed a message of recall. But the
duke continued in his abandonment, and the sage went forth to
thirteen weary years of homeless wandering.
8. On leaving Lu, Confucius first bent his steps westward to
the State of Wei, situate about where the present provinces of
Chih-li and Ho-nan adjoin.

[Sidebar] He wanders from State to State. B.C. 497-484.

He was now in his fifty-sixth year, and felt depressed and
melancholy. As he went along, he gave expression to his feelings
in verse:--

'Fain would I still look towards Lu,
But this Kwei hill cuts off my view.
With an axe, I'd hew the thickets through:--
Vain thought! 'gainst the hill I nought can do;'

and again,--

'Through the valley howls the blast,
Drizzling rain falls thick and fast.
Homeward goes the youthful bride,
O'er the wild, crowds by her side.
How is it, O azure Heaven,
From my home I thus am driven,
Through the land my way to trace,