he called his sons Chu, Shan,
and Hing to his side and distributed his wealth impartially among them.
To Chu he gave his house containing a gold couch; to Shan a river with
a boat; to Hing a field in which grew a prolific orange-tree. "Thus
provided for," he continued, "you will be able to live together in
comfort, the resources of each supplying the wants of the others in
addition to his own requirements. Therefore when I have departed let it
be your first care to sacrifice everything else I leave, so that I also,
in the Upper Air, may not be left destitute."

Now in addition to these three sons Wei also had another, the youngest,
but one of so docile, respectful, and self-effacing a disposition that
he was frequently overlooked to the advantage of his subtle, ambitious,
and ingratiating brothers. This youth, Kao, thinking that the occasion
certainly called for a momentary relaxation of his usual diffidence,
now approached his father modestly, and begged that he also might be
included to some trivial degree in his bounty.

This reasonable petition involved Wei in an embarrassing perplexity.
Although he had forgotten Kao completely in the division, he had now
definitely concluded the arrangement; nor, to his failing powers, did it
appear possible to make a just allotment on any other lines. "How can a
person profitably cut up an orange-tree, a boat, an inlaid couch, or
a house?" he demanded. "Who can divide a flowing river, or what but
unending strife can arise from regarding an open field in anything
but its entirety? Assuredly six cohesive objects cannot be apportioned
between four persons." Yet he could not evade the justice of Kao's
implied rebuke, so drawing to his side a jade cabinet he opened it, and
from among the contents he selected an ebony staff, a paper umbrella,
and a fan inscribed with a mystical sentence. These three objects he
placed in Kao's hands, and with his last breath signified that he should
use them discreetly as the necessity arose.

When the funeral ceremonies were over, Chu, Shan, and Hing came
together, and soon moulded their covetous thoughts into an agreed
conspiracy. "Of what avail would be a boat or a river if this person
sacrificed the nets and appliances by which the fish are ensnared?"
asked Shan. "How little profit would lie in an orange-tree and a field
without cattle and the implements of husbandry!" cried Hing. "One cannot
occupy a gold couch in an empty house both by day and ni