Gems of Chinese Literature/T‘an Kung-A Strange Congratulation

by T‘an Kung

When Chao Wu had completed his palace, all the great nobles went to offer their congratulations. One of them said, “How beautiful! how grand! how spacious! Here you will sing: there you will weep: and here the clans will gather together.”

“Ah!” replied Chao Wu; “may it indeed come to pass that I shall sing here, and weep there, and that here the clans will gather together; for thus I should go down to the grave of my forefathers with my head safely on my shoulders.” So saying, he bowed twice towards the north, striking his brow upon the ground.

“Well-timed,” exclaims the superior man, “was the panegyric; and well-timed also was the prayer.”^[1]

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1. The strange part of the congratulation was to allude, even indirectly, to the hateful contingency of death, as suggested by the word “weep.” But the reply skilfully turned into a compliment what must otherwise have been taken as an affront.