the tortoise-shell about the king;' but the duke of Kâu said, 'You must not so distress our former kings[1].' He then took the business on himself, and reared three altars of earth on the same cleared space; and having made another altar on the south of these, and facing the north, he took there his own position. Having put a round symbol of jade (on each of the three altars), and holding in his hands the lengthened symbol (of his own rank), he addressed the kings Thâi, Kî, and Wăn.*
The (grand) historiographer had written on tablets his prayer, which was to this effect:—'A. B., your great descendant, is suffering from a severe and violent disease;—if you three kings have in heaven the charge of (watching over) him, (Heaven's) great son, let me Tan be a substitute for his person[2]. I was lovingly obedient to my father; I am possessed of many abilities and arts, which fit me to serve spiritual beings. Your great descendant, on the other hand, has not so many abilities and arts as I, and is not so capable of serving spiritual beings. And moreover he was appointed in the hall of God to extend his aid all over the kingdom, so that he might establish your descendants in this lower earth. The people of the four quarters all stand in reverent
- ↑ He negatives their proposal, having determined to take the whole thing on himself.
- ↑ Two things are here plain:—first, that the duke of Kâu offered himself to die in the room of his brother; and second, that he thought that his offer might somehow be accepted through the intervention of the great kings, their progenitors. He proceeds to give his reasons for making such an offer, which are sufficiently interesting. It was hardly necessary for Chinese scholars to take the pains they have done to free the duke from the charge of boasting in them.
