Once, when it had rained continuously for ten days, Tsze-yü said, "I fear that Tsze-sang may be in distress." So he wrapped up some rice, and went to give it to him to eat.
When he came to Tsze-sang's door, there issued from it sounds between singing and wailing; a lute was struck, and there came the words, "O Father! O Mother! O Heaven! O Men!"
The voice could not sustain itself, and the line was hurriedly pronounced. Tsze-yü entered and said, "Why are you singing, Sir, this line of poetry in such a way?"
The other replied, "I was thinking, and thinking in vain, how it was that I was brought to such extremity. Would my parents have wished me to be so poor?
"Heaven overspreads all without any partial feeling, and so does Earth sustain all—would Heaven and Earth make me so poor with any unkindly feeling?
"I was trying to find out who had done it, and I could not do so. But here I am in this extremity! It is what was appointed for me!"
IMAGE: Ma Yuan, The Yellow River Breaches Its Course (c. 1200)
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