Note 7 — THE SAYINGS OF CONFUCIUS

Shê was a district of the Ch‘u State, which Confucius visited in 488 B.C. The following anecdote, told by T‘an Kung, is a striking illustration of the above saying. Travelling with his disciples, the Master came across a woman weeping and wailing beside a grave, and inquired the cause of her grief. "Alas!" she replied. "My father-in-law was killed here by a tiger; after that, my husband; and now my son has perished by the same death."—"But why, then, do you not go elsewhere?"—"The government here is not harsh," answered the woman.—"There!" cried the Master, turning to his disciples, "remember that. Bad government is worse than a tiger."