yet fools cannot use theirs to any purpose. The forms are alike; yet there is something which differentiates them. One will succeed, and another will not. Yet you tell me to preserve my form complete, my vitality secure, and let no anxious thoughts intrude. But so far I only hear Tao with my ears."
"Well said!" cried Kêng Sang; and then he added, "Small wasps cannot transform huge caterpillars.
According to Chinese notions, the wasp has no young. It transforms a small caterpillar into the required offspring.
Bantams cannot hatch the eggs of geese. The fowls of Lu can. Not that there is any difference in the hatching power of chickens. One can and another cannot, because one is naturally fitted for working on a large, the other on a small scale. My talents are of the latter order. I cannot transform you. Why not go south and see Lao Tzŭ?"
So Nan Yung took some provisions, and after a seven days' journey arrived at the abode of Lao Tzŭ.
"Have you come from Kêng Sang Ch'u?" said the latter.
"I have," replied Nan Yung.
"But why," said Lao Tzŭ, "bring all these people with you?"
Meaning the questions he was going to ask.
Nan Yung looked back in alarm, and Lao Tzŭ continued, "Do you not understand what I say?"