sword.' Confucius said, 'If to your present ability there were
added the results of learning, you would be a very superior man.'
'Of what advantage would learning be to me?' asked Tsze-lu.
'There is a bamboo on the southern hill, which is straight itself
without being bent. If you cut it down and use it, you can send it
through a rhinoceros's hide;-- what is the use of learning?' 'Yes,'
said the master; 'but if you feather it and point it with steel, will
it not penetrate more deeply?' Tsze-lu bowed ' twice, and said, 'I
will reverently receive your instructions.' Confucius was wont to
say, 'From the time that I got Yu, bad words no more came to my
ears.' For some time Tsze-lu was chief magistrate of the district
of P'u (»Z), where his administration commanded the warm
commendations of the master. He died finally in Wei, as has been
related above, pp. 86, 87. His tablet is now the fourth, east, from
those of the Assessors.
7. Tsai Yu styled Tsze-wo (®_¤©, ¦r¤l§Ú). He was a native of
Lu, but nothing is mentioned of his age. He had 'a sharp mouth,'
according to Sze-ma Ch'ien. Once, when he was at the court of
Ch'u on some commission, the king Chao offered him an easy
carriage adorned with ivory for his master. Yu replied, 'My master
is a man who would rejoice in a government where right
principles were carried out, and can find his joy in himself when
that is not the case. Now right principles and virtue are as it
were in a state of slumber. His wish is to rouse and put them in
motion. Could he find a prince really anxious to rule according to
them, he would walk on foot to his court and be glad to do so. Why
need he receive such a valuable gift, as this from so great a
distance?' Confucius commended this reply; but where he is
mentioned in the Analects, Tsze-wo does not appear to great
advantage. He took service in the State of Ch'i, and was chief