in the days of my youth. In the hunt, at the tavern, I was first amongst
them all. I had great strength. I once killed a bear with my bare
hands. My hands had fame.

"I had office in the city where my cousin ruled. He was a bad man, and
was soon forgotten, though his children mourn for him as is the custom.
I killed him. He gave counsel concerning the city when there was war,
but his counsel was that of a traitor, and the city was lost. Now
behold, it is written that he who has given counsel about the country or
its capital should perish with it when it comes into peril. He would not
die--so I killed him; but not before he had heaped upon me baseness and
shame. So I killed him.

"Yet it is written that when a minister kills his ruler, all who are in
office with him shall without mercy kill him who did the deed. That is
the law. It was the word of the Son of Heaven that this should be. But
those who were in office with me would not kill me, because they approved
of what I did. Yet they must kill me, since it was the law. What was
there to do but in the night to flee, so that they who should kill me
might not obey the law? Had I remained, and they had not obeyed the law,
they also would have been slain."

He paused for a moment and then went on. "So I fled, and it is many
years since by the Yang-tze-kiang I killed my ruler and saved my friends.
Yet I had not been faithful to the ancient law, and so through the long
years I have done low work among a low people. This was for atonement,
for long ago by the Yang-tzekiang I should have died, and behold, I have
lived until now. To save my friends from the pain of killing me I fled
and lived; but at last here at this place I said to myself that I must
die. So, secretly, I made this cellar into a temple.