In the spring of B.C. 481, a servant of Chi K'ang caught a
Ch'i-lin on a hunting excursion of the duke in the present district
of Chia-hsiang [2]. No person could tell what strange animal it
was, and Confucius was called to look at it. He at once knew it to
be a lin, and the legend-writers say that it bore on one of its
horns the piece of ribbon, which his mother had attached to the
one that appeared to her before his birth. According to the
chronicle of Kung-yang, he was profoundly affected. He cried out,
'For whom have you come? For whom have you come?' His tears
flowed freely, and he added, 'The course of my doctrines is run
[3].'
Notwithstanding the appearance of the lin, the life of
Confucius was still protracted for two years longer, though he
took occasion to terminate with that event his history of the
Ch'un Ch'iu. This Work, according to Sze-ma Ch'ien, was altogether
the production of this year, but we heed not suppose that it was
so. In it, from the standpoint of Lu, he briefly indicates the
principal events occurring throughout the country, every term
being expressive, it is said, of the true character of the actors
and events described. Confucius said himself, 'It is the Spring and
Autumn which will make men know me, and it is the Spring and
Autumn which will make men condemn me [4].' Mencius makes the
composition of it to have been an achievement as great as Yu's
regulation of the waters of the deluge:-- 'Confucius completed
the Spring and Autumn, and rebellious ministers and villainous
sons were struck with terror [5].'
Towards the end of this year, word came to Lu that the duke

1 Ana. XI. xvi.
2 «^¦{©²¹Å²»¿¤.