In ancient times,
Ki-Lin, the fabulous unicorn, appeared occasionally before the emperors.
They said the creature was as large as a deer but it had hooves like a
horse. It had a single horn in the center of its noble head. Its voice
was beautiful and as haunting as a monastery bell, and it was so good
and gentle that it walked with greatest care, lest it step upon some living
creature. The Ki-lin could neither be captured nor injured by any man.
And it appeared only to those emperors who had wisdom and virtue.
When the Middle Kingdom
fell into evil, ways and one state warred with another, and kings fought
with kings, the unicorn was seen no more. He was seen by no one until
the sixth century B.C.
At that time, there
lived a woman in the town of Chufu, in the state of Lu, at the base of
the sacred mountain Tai Shan. This woman was good and dutiful and truly
exceptional. Her one grief was that she had given her husband no son.
To be without a son was a great sorrow. If a family had no son, who would
worship before the ancestral tablets? With no one to worship there could
be no life after death for ancestors.
This good woman sorrowed
and prayed and begged heaven to take pity upon her and give her a son.
Yet no son was born to her.
One day, she decided
to make a pilgrimage to a distant temple on the sacred Tai shan. This
temple was thought to be especially holy. There, she planned to appeal
to the gods one last time. As she trudged up the mountain toward the lonely
temple, she unknowingly stepped into the secret footprint of the Ki-lin,
the gentle unicorn.
At once, the marvelous
creature appeared before her, knelt, and dropped a piece of precious jade
at her feet. The woman picked up the jade and found these words carved
upon the jewel: "Thy son shall be a ruler without a throne."
When the woman looked
up, the unicorn had vanished. But the jade was still in her hand, and
she knew that a miracle had taken place. In time, a son was born to this
good woman. He was named Kung Fu Tzu, Confucius. From his earliest days,
he showed unusual wisdom, and he became a great teacher. Accompanied by
his pupils, he traveled from town to town. All over the land, the people
studied and lived by his wise sayings. His influence was as powerful as
that of the emperors. Indeed, he ruled without a throne.
