dropped. Heh was just entering; and catching the massive
structure with both his hands, he gradually by dint of main
strength raised it and held it up, till his friends had made their
escape.
Thus much on the ancestry of the sage. Doubtless he could
trace his descent in the way which has been indicated up to the
imperial house of Yin, nor was there one among his ancestors
during the rule of Chau to whom he could not refer with
satisfaction. They had been ministers and soldiers of Sung and Lu,
all men of worth, and in Chang K'ao, both for his humility and
literary researches, Confucius might have special complacency.
2. Confucius was the child of Shu-liang Heh's old age. The
soldier had married in early life, but his wife brought him only

[Sidebar] From his birth to his first public employments. B.C. 551-
531.

daughters,-- to the number of nine, and no son. By a concubine he
had a son, named Mang-p'i, and also Po-ni [5], who proved a
cripple, so that, when he was over seventy years, Heh sought a
second wife in the Yen family [6], from which came subsequently
Yen Hui, the favourite disciple of his son. There were three
daughters in the family, the youngest being named Chang-tsai [7].
Their father said to them, 'Here is the commandant of Tsau. His
father and grandfather were only scholars, but his ancestors
before them were descendants of the sage sovereigns. He is a man
ten feet high [8], and of extraordinary prowess, and I am very
desirous of his alliance. Though he is old and austere, you need
have no misgivings about him. Which of you three will be his
wife? 'The two elder daughters were silent, but Chang-tsai said,