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A sea-gull alighted in a suburb of the capital of Lu. The Marquis of Lu welcomed it and feasted it in the temple hall, ordering the royal music and grandest sacrifices for it.
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A family in the state of Song made an excellent ointment for chapped hands; so for generations they engaged in laundering. A man who heard of this offered a hundred pieces of gold for their recipe.
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There was once a bird called the roc, whose back was as vast as Mount Tai and whose wings were like clouds that overspread the heavens. When it wheeled up into the air a whirlwind arose, and in each flight it covered ninety thousand Ii, soaring above the misty vapours under the azure sky.…
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It is said that in the state of Qi, there lived a man named Dongguo Chang, whose greed knew no bounds. He constantly dreamed of amassing a great fortune—ten thousand taels of gold.
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Lord Ye was famously fond of dragons. He had dragons carved on his walls, dragons painted on his pillars, and dragons engraved on every vessel in his house. Even his robes and curtains bore intricate dragon patterns.
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A monkey-trainer in the state of Song was fond of monkeys and kept a great many of them. He was able to understand them and they would please him.
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There was a man in the state of Qi who wanted some gold. One morning he dressed himself smartly and went to the market. Arriving at the gold-dealer’s stall, he seized a piece of gold and made off.
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A man of the state of Song was strolling along the road when he came across an abandoned title-deed. He took it home and hid it, and used to count the items/notches on the deed in secret.“I am going to be rich,” he told a neighbour.
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A man had a withered plane tree. “It’s unlucky to keep a withered tree,” said his neighbour, an old man.