when he was following Confucius as a disciple, he suddenly felt his heart throb; whereupon he at once took leave and went home. "Ah!" cried his mother, when he told her of the heart-throb, "I was longing to see you, so I just bit my finger." On another occasion, he absolutely refused to enter a village, because its name was 勝母 Better-than-a-Mother; and later on he divorced his wife for serving up to her mother-in-law some badly-stewed pears. Similarly, although his father had used him vilely, yet after the death of the former he could never bear to eat a date-plum, because his father had been fond of that fruit; neither in mature life could he ever read that section of the Book of Rites which treats of ceremonies for the dead without bursting into tears at the thought of his lost parents. He did not prepare food more than once in three days, nor did he have new clothes oftener than once in ten years. Yet he was always happy. He spared the life of a crane which had been wounded by a sportsman, and cured its injuries. The bird flew away, only however to return with its mate, each bearing in its bill a valuable pearl, which they presented to Tsêng. In 1267 his tablet was placed in the Confucian Temple (see Yen Hui), and in 1330 the epithet 宗聖 Model Sage was conferred upon him.
Tsêng Yü 曾紆 (T. 公衮. H. 榮山). 12th cent. A.D. A distinguished poet and official of the Sung dynasty.
Tso-ch'iu Ming 左邱明. Author of the famous commentary upon the Spring and Autumn Annals, known as the Tso Chuan. He has been ranked among the disciples of Confucius, but nothing is really known about him. Some maintain that his name was Tso Ch'iu-ming. The balance of evidence, however, seems to be in favour of the double surname. He is popularly known as 文章之祖 the Father of Prose, and in A.D. 647 his tablet was placed in the Confucian Temple.
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