four hundred and fifty years ago in lze-cheung province, western china, there lived an old farmer named ah-po.
the young farmers all said ah-po knew everything. if they wanted to know when it would rain, they asked ah-po, and when he said: "it will not rain to-morrow," or, "you will need your bamboo-hat this time to-morrow," it was as he said. he knew all about the things of nature and how to make the earth yield best her fruits and seeds, and some said he was a prophet.
one day ah-po caught a fine mountain turtle. it was so large that it took both of ah-po's sons to carry it home. they tied its legs together and hung it on a strong stick, and each son put an end of the stick on his shoulder.
ah-po said, "we will not kill the turtle. he is too old to eat, and i think we will keep him and watch the rings grow around his legs each year." so they gave him a corner in the barnyard and fed him rice and water.
ah-po had many chickens, and for three months the turtle and chickens lived in peace with each other. but one day all the young chickens came together and laughed at the turtle. then they said to him, "why do you live here so long? why do you not go back to your own place? this small barnyard corner is not so good as your cave in the wilderness. you have only a little sand and grass to live on here. the servant feeds you, but she never gives you any wilderness fruits. you are very large, and you take up too much room. we need all the room there is here. you foolish old thing, do you think our fathers and mothers want you? no. there is not one of our people who likes you. besides, you are not clean. you make too much dirt. the servant girl gave you this water to drink, and your water bowl is even now upside down. you scatter rice on our floor. too many flies come here to see you, and we do not like flies."
the turtle waited until they had all finished scolding. then he said, "do you think i came here myself? who put me here, do you know? do you suppose i like to be in jail? you need not be jealous. i never ate any rice that belonged to you or your family. i am not living in your house. what are you complaining about? if our master should take your whole family and sell it, he would only get one piece of silver. who and what are you to talk so much? wait and see; some day i may have the honoured place."
some of the chickens went home and told their mother, "we had an argument with the turtle to-day and he had the last word. to-morrow we want you to go with us and show him that a chicken can argue as well as a turtle."
the next day all the chickens of the barnyard went to see the turtle. and the old hen said, "my children came here to play yesterday, and you scolded them and drove them away. you said all my family was not worth one piece of silver. you think you are worth many pieces of gold, i suppose. no one likes you. your own master would not eat you. and the market people would never buy a thing so old and tough as you are. but i suppose you will have to stay here in our yard a thousand years or so, until you die. then they will carry you to the wilderness and throw you into the nobody-knows lake."
then the turtle answered and said, "i am a mountain turtle. i come from a wise family, and it is not easy for even man to catch me. educated men, doctors, know that i am useful for sickness, but if all the people knew the many ways they could use me, i think there would soon be no more turtles in the world. many chinese know that my skin is good for skin disease, and my forefeet are good for the devil-sickness in children, as they drive the devil away; and then my shells are good for sore throat, and my stomach is good for stomach-ache, and my bones are good for tooth-ache. do you remember that not long ago our master brought three turtle eggs to feed your children? i heard him say: 'those little chickens caught cold in that damp place, and so i must give them some turtle eggs.' i saw your children eat those three eggs, and in two or three days they were well.
"so you see the turtle is a useful creature in the world, even to chickens. why do you not leave me in peace? as i must stay here against my will, it is not right that your children should trouble me. sometimes they take all my rice and i go hungry, for our master will not allow me to go outside of this fence to hunt food for myself. i never come to your house and bother you, but your children will not even let me live in peace in the little corner our master gave me. if i had a few of my own people here with me, as you have, i think you would not trouble me. but i have only myself, while you are many.
"yesterday your children scolded me and disturbed my peace. to-day you come again; and to-morrow and many to-morrows will see generations and still more unhatched generations of chickens coming here to scold me, i fear; for the length of life of a cackling hen is as a day to me—a mountain turtle. i know the heaven is large, i know the earth is large and made for all creatures alike. but you think the heavens and the earth were both made for you and your chickens only. if you could drive me away to-day you would try to-morrow to drive the dog away, and in time you would think the master himself ought not to have enough of your earth and air to live in. this barnyard is large enough for birds, chickens, ducks, geese, and pigs. it makes our master happy to have us all here."
the chickens went away ashamed. talking to each other about it, they said: "the turtle is right. it is foolish to want everything. we barnyard creatures must live at peace with each other until we die. the barnyard is not ours; we use it only a little while."
ee-sze (meaning): the creator made the world for all to use, and, while using it, the strong should not try to drive out the weak.
