The Fa-Nien-Ts’ing and the Mön-Tien-Sing

Confucius had labored for many years, teaching the people righteousness. One day he said to himself, “I have taught for a long time, and now I will rest for a while.” He thought for a few days and asked, “Where shall I go to find rest?” Then he spoke to his faithful pupils, Tsze-Lu, Yen-Yuen, and Tsze-Kong, saying, “I have been thinking that I would rest for three moons and visit the Tai-San Mountain, but I do not wish to go alone. I should like you to come with me. Where on the mountain is the best place, do you think?”

“On the southwest side, where the sun shines warm and the wind does not blow cold,” answered Tsze-Kong. And Tsze-Lu, Tsze-Kong, and Yen-Yuen went to their own rooms and planned the journey.

After ten days, Confucius and his pupils went to the Tai-San Mountain to rest for three moons. Even there, his pupils studied, for they brought their books with them.

As Confucius walked on the mountain, he said, “How great and beautiful are the things made by the Creator; even the trees, bushes, and flowers are beyond man's understanding.” Then he went to the temple and saw the images of honored men. When he looked at the face of Dai-Yee, the Just, he said, “You are very great. We remember and honor you, and future generations will also remember and honor you.”

When he had walked another half-mile, he grew tired and sat down under the Fa-Nien-Ts’ing tree, and soon he slept.

Suddenly, he heard a noise. He awoke, thinking his pupils had come, but seeing no one, he lay down again to sleep. Once more he heard the same noise. Looking upward, he saw the Mön-Tien-Sing and the Fa-Nien-Ts’ing trees looking into each other's faces, but they were not happy. The Mön-Tien-Sing's face was distorted with anger, and in great wrath she said to the Fa-Nien-Ts’ing, “If I were the Creator, I would not allow you to live. A year passes and another year passes, and you do not grow. You take in much food and have more earth than I, yet still you do not grow. I have never heard that you did any good thing since you were born, and it is said you have lived here for five hundred years. Your branches are crooked and your bark is rough.

“You are not even good to look upon. Do you think the children of men care for you? No, for you have neither flowers nor fruit. If people sit under your shade when the wind blows hard, I should think your sharp, ugly leaves would fall on them and stick them.

“It is a strange thing that the woodcutter does not chop you down, useless thing. If I were the Creator, I would not allow the sun to shine on you, nor would I give you rain to drink. I would cause the wind to blow hard until you fell down dead.

“You see, I have the sweetest of flowers, and the people all like me. One day, two women passed by here, and one of them said, ‘Mön-Tien-Sing, how I wish that I might take you with me. You are so beautiful, but I fear you do not like me. Three times I have gathered your flowers for my hair, but I was careless and passed by a bush, and it did but touch them, and their lovely petals all fell to the earth. I wish that I might take you to my garden, and that you would grow there and open your beautiful flowers every third moon forever.’

“My name is Mön-Tien-Sing, which means Flowers-every-three-moons. If you do not know another meaning it has, I will tell you.

“When you look in the sky on a summer night, do you know how many stars are there? Even man cannot count a clear sky filled with shining stars. I am Mön-Tien-Sing. Mön means full; Tien means heaven; and Sing means stars: ‘sky filled with stars’—that is my name. I grow very fast. Every three moons, I bear a thousand and a thousand flowers. I do not need servants to care for me, for I grow everywhere. Even the chickens and birds like me. They come to me and eat my seeds and grow fat.

“If I were the Creator, the Mön-Tien-Sing would grow everywhere in all the world and fill the earth with its sweetness. But oh, I wish I could go away from you. I do not like even to see you, and here I must stand always by your side. Your branches are too strong; for when the wind blows, they come close and hurt me and spoil my beautiful flowers. I will pray the Creator to bring a woodcutter and cut you down today—useless, evil thing.”

The Fa-Nien-Ts’ing did not answer, though he bowed his head in shame. He knew well that he was ugly and that his leaves were sharp and his bark rough. But he said to himself, “I know in my heart that someday, someone will like me, too. For the Creator made me, and he surely made me for good. I will keep patient and wait.”

In about three moons, the cold days came, and all things were frozen. The rivers stood still, the flowers were no longer seen, and the trees and shrubs threw all their leaves to the ground. But the Fa-Nien-Ts’ing held his head up and smiled bravely, and he kept his leaves, and they grew greener and greener. Then he said to himself, “The cool wind is good for me. The frost does me no harm. I feel better. This is my happy time, for the people like to have green in their houses now. Today they came to the mountain, and they found no other thing that was yet green but my leaves.

“A young man was about to be married. He could find no flowers. So he took some of my leaves and branches to put in his house. The birds come to me for shelter from the cold wind and snow. They say the Fa-Nien-Ts’ing is a good home for them.

“The winter is cold, cold every day, but I grow greener and greener. The woodcutter comes and stands by my side and says that I keep the cold wind away from him. I know the Creator made me for good.”

Then Confucius awoke. He looked up, and he looked down, and he looked all about him. There was no living thing near except the Fa-Nien-Ts’ing and the Mön-Tien-Sing, and he said, “It was a dream, but surely I heard the Mön-Tien-Sing trying to quarrel with the Fa-Nien-Ts’ing. I know that the things of the world have deep meaning, and this is my lesson: I would not be as the Mön-Tien-Sing, but I wish to be like the Fa-Nien-Ts’ing.”

He arose and laid his hand gently on the Fa-Nien-Ts’ing and said, “The time is long that you stand here, patient one. The cold heart of winter does not change your nature more than it does that of birds, beasts, men, or even your enemy, the Mön-Tien-Sing.

“The cold weather makes you better, for you grow green as the springtime, and there is no other tree, bush, or flower which can do this. When the frost of winter comes, where are the flowers, where are the leaves, where are all the growing things of beauty? Where is the grass, where is the green of the field? They are gone. The first cold, wintry wind of adversity takes them one by one, but you alone can withstand sorrow and grow even more beautiful.

“Your life is a lesson to me. I am serving the king and serving the people, but there are few who like me now. Three kings have tried to kill me, though my doctrine is to serve the world and help everyone.

“But kings will not listen to my teaching, and my brothers try to drive me away, as the Mön-Tien-Sing wished to drive away the Fa-Nien-Ts’ing. For four days I went without food, and many were the enemies around and against me at that time when the king banished me. But I know that it is my duty to live and teach in the world, although it is winter for me and the cold winds of adversity blow, and the hearts of my people seem hard and cold like rocks of ice. I hope I will be as the Fa-Nien-Ts’ing, and stand firmly on the mountain of righteousness forever, that I, Confucius, may do good to a wintry world.

“I would not be as the Mön-Tien-Sing. It is covered in the morning with the flowers of beauty which it drops before the evening. It is beautiful for an hour, but is frail beyond all of its kind. It bears no fruit, and its flowers last but a day, while the Fa-Nien-Ts’ing is strong of heart and mind, though a world is against him.”