Hong-Mo said, "Now you must be friendly to each other. Come with me, and I
will bring you and your King together. We must have peace here."
When the Chickens came to where the King was he walked about, and scraped
his wings on the ground, and sharpened his spurs. His people had come to make
peace, and they bowed their heads and looked happy when they saw their King.
But he still walked about alone and would not bow.
He said, "I am a King—always a King. Do you know that? You bow your heads
and think that pleases me. But what do I care? I should not care if there was
never another Chicken in the world but myself. I am King."
And he hopped up on a tree and sang some war songs. But suddenly an eagle
who heard him, flew down and caught him in his talons and carried him away.
And the Chickens never saw their proud, quarrelsome King again.
EE-SZE (Meaning): No position in life is so high that it gives the right to be
proud and quarrelsome.
The Hen and the Chinese Mountain Turtle
Four hundred and fifty years ago in Lze-Cheung Province, Western China, there
lived an old farmer named Ah-Po.
The young farmers all said Ah-Po knew everything. If they wanted to know
when it would rain, they asked Ah-Po, and when he said: "It will not rain to-
morrow," or, "You will need your bamboo-hat this time to-morrow," it was as he
said. He knew all about the things of nature and how to make the earth yield best
her fruits and seeds, and some said he was a prophet.
One day Ah-Po caught a fine Mountain Turtle. It was so large that it took both of
Ah-Po's sons to carry it home. They tied its legs together and hung it on a strong
stick, and each son put an end of the stick on his shoulder.
Ah-Po said, "We will not kill the Turtle. He is too old to eat, and I think we will
keep him and watch the rings grow around his legs each year." So they gave him
a corner in the barnyard and fed him rice and water.