[1] This is a folk story of nineteen hundred years ago.
[2] This species of garden-snail is found in China, and is about the
size of a large Roman snail. It sucks the juice of the fruit while on
the trees, eats flies and bugs and, the Chinese say, is fond of sweets.
It reproduces every thirty days by spreading a leaf with a sticky
substance where the sun shines, the family of young snails coming in
about fifteen days.
[3] This story is about two thousand years old and is found in Chinese
historical literature.
[4] This is a Chinese life story and is about twelve hundred years old.
[5] Mandarin dialect word meaning mother.
[6] Bamboo-hat:—A large umbrella-shaped hat, made of bamboo, and worn
by the Chinese to keep off the rain.
[7] The Chinese idea of perfection of character is based on the three
hundred and fifty laws of Confucius, the first law requiring honor and
perfect obedience to parents—even in thought. The second law requires
one to think of one’s own wrongdoing every day. So when Tsen-Tsze tried
so hard to do right that each day he asked his parents and teacher,
“Have I done anything wrong to-day?” he fulfilled the two highest laws
of Confucius in spirit and in letter.
[8] Tsen-Tsze was one of the seventy-two most faithful pupils of
Confucius, chosen from among this great man’s three thousand students
because of his nearness to perfection in character. Most of the
seventy-two students began studying with Confucius when they were
children.
[9] That he did not show or even feel a spirit of resentment when his
father beat him is considered a remarkable instance of honor and trust
in parents.
[10] In worshiping, the Chinese bow a given number of times for each
act of reverence to grandparents or dead ancestors, or to father and
mother.
[11] In some parts of China this story is told the children to teach
them not to resent punishment from parents. They are taught that
whatever a parent does is for their good, and they must believe it
unquestionably. When told this story they are asked, “Do you think you
could feel that way toward your father after a whipping—or would you
feel angry or sorry for yourself?”
[12] The Yen Tzi, or Kind Bird, is a species of the fly-catcher family
found in China. They migrate in the spring and fall, and never winter
where the weather is very cold. They are very tame, sometimes even
building nests in the houses of the Chinese, and eating with the
chickens at feeding time. They are very gentle, never fight among
themselves or with others, share their nests with each other or even
with other birds. Hence the name “Kind Birds.” They are also sometimes
called “Sociable Birds,” because they always go in flocks and are never
found alone.
[13] This story was told to his people by that good man Mong-Fu-Tsi
(Canton dialect), who lived about five hundred years later than
Confucius.
[14] The little children of China from three to six years of age are
often sent to a subscription school to learn to talk, write characters,
etc. The teachers of these schools are required to be men of very
exemplary character. They must be gentle and kind and, above all, have
no bad habits.
[15] “A man with wings.” This can not be translated into the word
angel.
This story from the “Chinese History,” or life stories from the actual
lives of the people, was taken from a district of China where Buddhism
prevails. Tsing-Ching’s idea of a man spirit with wings after death was
based on the belief taught by the Buddhist priests that man might live
again, but that no one could attain again a state of consciousness if
he killed, spilled blood, or ate flesh. Meat-eaters were consequently
barred from ever wearing wings.
The idea of wings was not general, as the Buddhist spirit was never
pictured as having wings, though being able to float through the air.
The hope of a future life was a little brighter for the Buddhist,
however, than for the follower of Confucius. That great and good man’s
law of life gave three hundred and fifty precepts, and man by following
them might hope for eternal consciousness; but though they were a good
basis for a moral character, they were the despair of those who tried
to keep all three hundred and fifty of them in the hope of winning
eternal life.
[16] Canton dialect word meaning mother.
[17] A title of great honor given to followers of Confucius who have
been known from childhood to maturity by many people as having observed
this law of Confucius faithfully.
[18] In China the country boys go in the water to fish with hand nets
and become experts in diving and swimming under water. The hand nets
are about two feet wide and three feet long.
[19] Pupils. Chinese school children in small country places sit at a
long table to study. Sometimes there are from forty to sixty at one
table.
[20] A huge oyster about three feet square and weighing twenty pounds,
which is said to have existed at that time (about one thousand years
ago), but is now extinct.
[21] A Chinese sauce.
[22] A Chinese mushroom which grows in the forests. It is very rare and
much larger than the ordinary variety.
[23] Yot, yee, sarm are Canton dialect words for one, two, three.
[24] The Chinese picture the heart thus, with two sides:
To the larger side, everything is brought by the brain for the
heart-judge, or conscience, to pass judgment on. If he pronounces the
thought or feeling worthy, it goes into the memory, where it stays;
otherwise it is rejected.
[25] Canton dialect.
[26] A choice Chinese candy.
[27] This is similar to the Occidental custom of shaking hands on an
agreement.
[28] The Chinese farmers have a rice churn which takes the final husk
off the rice. It holds about two bushels and works with treadle very
much like our old-fashioned dog churns. It takes the women about half
an hour to churn (or thresh) one churnful of rice.
[29] San Chi:—A large and beautiful mountain bird with one feather of
rarest loveliness. This feather is blue, of a peculiar iridescence, and
some of its long, curly fronds are white. The Chinese are superstitious
about this feather and think it has healing qualities. They sometimes
trap the San-Chi bird and pull its one beautiful feather, letting the
bird go free. It is six years, the hunters say, until the lost feather
is replaced. The San-Chi is very long lived, and its feathers are
greatly valued for fans.
[30] At that time several nations were at war, and Confucius went to
the king of each nation, trying to persuade him that it was better to
be at peace. He went to the young King Loa-Bai first, as his was the
strongest of the kingdoms.
[31] Bears’ feet are considered a great delicacy by the Chinese.
[32] The Chinese say that this is a true story which shows that the
General Gui Süt Yun was a very good man and true. Otherwise the dream
would not have been given him.
[33] In China the girls do not attend the private schools with the
boys, after they are about twelve years old. A little education at home
is considered enough for the girls, for the Chinese say, “We want our
women to be gentle, kind and obedient, and too much wisdom might not be
good for them.”
The attitude of the Chinese toward their women is paternal, but when
the women become mothers and raise a family (especially if there are
sons) their power and influence increase with the years, and the mother
who lives in her son’s home is a person of great importance to her son
and his wife, who must serve her. Her wishes are deferred to and she is
granted willing service and obedience by all the household.
[34] In China the favorite lily is red.
[35] In China four names are given to a boy.
1st. The “mother name,” which is given the child by the mother when it
is born.
2d. The “school name,” given when he begins school and which he keeps
throughout his school days, his degree being given to him in this name.
3d. At sixteen, when he becomes legally of age, he takes a “given
name,” which is a variation of his school name and is the name by which
he is generally known throughout life.
4th. About the time his education is completed the young man selects a
name by which he is known only to his most intimate friends.
[36] The literal meaning of “Lon-da-Tang” is, “Never stop growing.”
This is a vine-like rattan brought from the Pang-Wu Island to China
over a thousand years ago by some Chinese fishermen. It grows with
wonderful rapidity, completely covering a house in about three years.
It affords valuable protection from the hot sun to the thin-roofed
Chinese houses.
[37] Mrs. Rose Tree:—The Chinese fables call all fruit or
flower-bearing plants or trees, Mrs. or Miss. Trees, or plants that do
not bear flowers or fruits, are called Mr.