When King Zhou ordered chopsticks made of ivory, Ji Zi was most perturbed. He reasoned: “Ivory chopsticks demand rhino horn cups; rhino cups demand exotic delicacies; delicacies demand silk robes and palace halls. This insatiable chain will end in tyranny and ruin.”
Because his horse refused to advance, a traveller in the state of Song drove it into a stream, then mounted to set off again. Still the horse refused to go, and he punished it once more in the same way. This happened three times in all.
After the fall of the house of Fan, a man got hold of a bronze bell. It was too big to carry away on his back, and when he tried to break it with a hammer it made such a din that he feared others might hear and take it away from him. So…
A man walking along the river bank saw someone about to throw a small boy into the water. The child was screaming with terror.
A man of the state of Chu was ferrying across a river when his sword fell into the water. He lost no time in marking the hull.
Dr. Ju was a famous physician of the state of Qin. He had cut a tumour for Emperor Xuan and healed haemorrhoids for Emperor Hui.