And he said, “I read in history about many famous men who were great because they were gentle. I hope I shall be like them. History says their fathers gave them the stick when young.” But the anger had not all left his father’s face, and he brought him a cup of tea and said, “Father, are you thirsty?”
Then he took his father’s hand and went to the garden [[78]]where the birds were singing. He put a flower on his father’s breast and asked, “Father, do you like that? I do.”
All this caused Tsen-Tsze’s father to think, and in his heart he said, “This boy is not like other children of his age.” And so long as he had life, he never beat his son again.
Tsen-Tsze became a great scholar and finished all his studies when he was only twenty-five years old. And he was a wise and good man.
His own generation and all the generations of man that have come after him have studied about him, and have wished to be as he was. [[79]]
[1] The Chinese idea of perfection of character is based on the three hundred and fifty laws of Confucius, the first law requiring honor and [[75]]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. [↑]
[2] 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. [↑]
[3] 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. [↑]
[4] 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. [↑]