Page 119 - Gan's Family History

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Confucius praised Yan Hui for
the excellent job he had done and
said he was equally impressed by the
woman's intelligence which was
testimony to the fact that even
woman in the State of Wei had access
to education.
When the other disciples heard
Yan Hui's story, they all felt itchy as
if they had lice on their head, too. So
they asked Confucius if they could go
and borrow the comb from the
woman again, but Confucius said,
"When Yan Hui went to find out
about her education on the pretext of
borrowing her comb, this was
perfectly all right for a scholar or a
would-be official. As the woman is
well educated, she has shown fine
manners in her response. It would
be despicable if you all went to
borrow her comb to comb your hair.
The woman would look on you with
contempt. Don't you think it would
spoil our good name?"
That settled it, and they
continued on their journey.
When the carriage carrying
Confucius arrived at the palace, the
Prince of Wei was on the point of
leaving his hall to meet him in person
when his ministers said that
Confucius was but a wandering
scholar and that it was already a
great honour for him that the Prince
had decided to receive him in the
palace but if His Highness were to
meet him outside, it would cause
public resentment against the
Prince. "But Confucius is no
ordinary scholar," said the Prince.
"He enjoys high prestige in the
various state. He was once the
minister of Justice of the State of Lu,
the highest-ranking of the senior
officials. What harm can it do me if I
give him a courteous reception?"
Confucius had not met the
Prince before but when he saw a man
in magnificent attire, with a stately
bearing, standing on the steps of the
hall, escorted by court servants, he
knew he was Duke Ling. He
quickened his pace and, clasping his
hands together, bowed to him.
"Confucius pays tribute to
Your Highness."
Duke Ling walked down the
steps, took Confucius's hand in his
and led him to his hall. The Prince
asked how life had been since he had
come to Wei and Confucius told him
that he was staying with Minister
Yan Zhouzou and his disciples took
turns to cook their own meals.
The Duke was interested to
hear that his disciples could cook.
Confucius explained that they were
used to that because many of them
had come from amongst the common
folks. He cited Yan Hui as an
example. Yan Hui had a humble
background. Before he had met
Confucius he had lived in a small
alley in Qufu and cooked his own
simple meals.
They had been on the road for
two days and in that time had
covered only one hundred li. They
were headed for the State of Chen for
no particular reason other than that
it was a close neighbour of Wei and
the road leading to it was good.
Besides, it was internally stable.
Yan Hui was driving the cart.
He was a quiet and thoughtful young
man. Apart from cracking the whip
from time to time, he did not talk