Mencius. Book 1, Part 2, Chapter 2.
1. The king, Seuen, of Ts'e asked, "Was it so, that the park of King Wan contained seventy square li?" Mencius replied, "It is so in the records."
2. "Was it so large as that?" exclaimed the king. "The people," said Mencius, "still looked on it as small." The king added, "My park contains only forty square li, and the people still look on it as large. How is this?" "The park of King Wan," was the reply, "contained seventy square li, but the grass-cutters and fuel gatherers had the privilege of entrance into it; so also had the catchers of pheasants and hares. He shared it with the people, and was it not with reason that they looked on it as small?
3. "When I first arrived at the borders of your state, I inquired about the great prohibitory regulations, before I would venture to enter it; and I heard, that inside the border gates there was a park of forty square li, and that he who killed a deer in it, was held guilty of the same crime as if he had killed a man. Thus those forty square li are a pitfall in the middle of the kingdom. Is it not with reason that the people look upon them as large?"
1. The king, Seuen, of Ts'e asked, "Was it so, that the park of King Wan contained seventy square li?" Mencius replied, "It is so in the records."
2. "Was it so large as that?" exclaimed the king. "The people," said Mencius, "still looked on it as small." The king added, "My park contains only forty square li, and the people still look on it as large. How is this?" "The park of King Wan," was the reply, "contained seventy square li, but the grass-cutters and fuel gatherers had the privilege of entrance into it; so also had the catchers of pheasants and hares. He shared it with the people, and was it not with reason that they looked on it as small?
3. "When I first arrived at the borders of your state, I inquired about the great prohibitory regulations, before I would venture to enter it; and I heard, that inside the border gates there was a park of forty square li, and that he who killed a deer in it, was held guilty of the same crime as if he had killed a man. Thus those forty square li are a pitfall in the middle of the kingdom. Is it not with reason that the people look upon them as large?"
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Text source: The Works of Mencius. Translated by James Legge.
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