A Happy Excursion
In the northern ocean there is a fish, called the k’un, I do not know how many thousand li in size. This k’un changes into a bird, called the p’eng.
Its back is I do not know how many thousand li in breadth. When it is moved, it flies, its wings obscuring the sky like clouds.
When on a voyage, this bird prepares to start for the Southern Ocean, the Celestial Lake. And in the Records of Marvels
we read that when the peng flies southwards, the water is smitten for a space of three thousand li around, while the bird itself
mounts upon a great wind to a height of ninety thousand li, for a flight of six months’ duration.
There mounting aloft, the bird saw the moving white mists of spring, the dust-clouds, and the living things blowing their breaths
among them. It wondered whether the blue of the sky was its real color, or only the result of distance without end, and saw that
the things on earth appeared the same to it.
If there is not sufficient depth, water will not float large ships. Upset a cupful into a hole in the yard, and a mustard-seed will be
your boat. Try to float the cup, and it will be grounded, due to the disproportion between water and vessel.
So with air .If there is not sufficient a depth, it cannot support large wings. And for this bird, a depth of ninety thousand li
is necessary to bear it up. Then, gliding upon the wind, with nothing save the clear sky above, and no obstacles in the way,
it starts upon its journey to the south.
A cicada and a young dove laughed, saying, “Now, when I fly with all my might, ’tis as much as I can do to get from tree to tree.
And sometimes I do not reach, but fall to the ground midway. What then can be the use of going up ninety thousand li to start
for the south?” He who goes to the countryside taking three meals with him comes back with his stomach as full as when he started.
But he who travels a hundred li must take ground rice enough for an overnight stay. And he who travels a thousand li must supply
himself with provisions for three months. Those two little creatures, what should they know?
Small knowledge has not the compass of great knowledge any more than a short year has the length of a long year. How can we tell that this is so?
The fungus plant of a morning knows not the alternation of day and night. The cicada knows not the alternation of spring and autumn.
Theirs are short years. But in the south of Chu there is a mingling (tree) whose spring and autumn are each of five hundred years’
duration. And in former days there was a large tree which had a spring and autumn each of eight thousand years. Yet, Peng Tsu is known
for reaching a great age and is still, alas! An object of envy to all!