Yet they must kill me, since it was the law. What was
there to do but in the night to flee, so that they who should kill me
might not obey the law? Had I remained, and they had not obeyed the law,
they also would have been slain."
He paused for a moment and then went on. "So I fled, and it is many
years since by the Yang-tze-kiang I killed my ruler and saved my friends.
Yet I had not been faithful to the ancient law, and so through the long
years I have done low work among a low people. This was for atonement,
for long ago by the Yang-tzekiang I should have died, and behold, I have
lived until now. To save my friends from the pain of killing me I fled
and lived; but at last here at this place I said to myself that I must
die. So, secretly, I made this cellar into a temple.
"That was a year ago, and I sent to my brother the Duke Ki to speak to
him what was in my mind, so that he might send my kinsmen to me, that
when I came to die, it should be after the manner ordained by the Son of
Heaven; that my body should be clothed according to the ancient rites by
my own people, my mouth filled with rice, and the meats, and grains and
fruits of sacrifice be placed on a mat at the east of my body when I
died; that the curtain should be hung before my corpse; that I should be
laid upon a mat of fine bamboo, and dressed, and prepared for my grave,
and put into a noble coffin as becomes a superior man.
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