Fan's retinue consisted of well-born people. Dressed in white silk, they rode around in chariots or strolled leisurely, looking down on everyone.
Noticing Kai from Shan-gora, old and weak, with a darkly tanned face, in a dress and hat that was not at all exquisite, they all treated him with contempt and began to mock him as best they could: they mocked him, deceived him, beat him, pushed him, threw him from one to another. But Kai from Shan-mountain was not angry, the hangers-on were tired, and their inventions were exhausted.
Then, together with Kai, they all climbed the high tower, and one of them joked:
“Whoever decides to throw himself down will receive a hundred gold as a reward.”
Others vyingly began to agree, and Kai, taking everything for the truth, hastened to rush first. Like a soaring bird, he landed on the ground without damaging any bones or muscles.
Fanya's retinue took this as an accident and was not very surprised. And then someone, pointing to a pool in the bend of the river, said again:
- There is a pearl of great price. Dive and you will find her. Kai obeyed again and dived. He actually emerged with a pearl.
Then everyone became thoughtful, and Fan ordered that from now on Kai and the others should be fed meat and dressed in silk.
But then a strong fire broke out in Fanya’s treasury. Fan said:
“If you manage to enter the fire and save the silk, I’ll give you all of it as a reward, no matter how much you pull out!”
Kai, without hesitation, headed towards the treasury, disappeared in the flames and appeared again, but the fire did not burn him, and the soot did not stick to him.
Everyone in Fan's house decided that he had a secret and began to ask him for forgiveness:
“We didn’t know that you possessed a miracle, and we deceived you.” We did not know that you were a saint and insulted you. Consider us fools, consider us deaf, consider us blind! But let us ask, what is your secret?
“I have no secret,” answered Kai from Shang Mountain. - Where this comes from - my heart does not know. And yet I will try to tell you about one thing.
Recently two of you spent the night in my hut, and I heard them praising Fan: he can kill the living and revive the dead, make the rich poor, and the poor rich. And I went to him, despite the long journey, because truly I had no other desires left. When I came here, I believed every word you said. Without thinking about the danger or what would happen to my body, I was only afraid of being insufficiently devoted, insufficiently diligent. There was only one thing on my mind, and nothing could stop me. That's it.
Only now, when I found out that you were deceiving me, doubts and anxieties arose in me, I began to listen and look closely at your boasts. I remembered the past: I was lucky enough not to burn, not to drown - and from grief, from fear, I felt feverish and trembling. How can I get closer to water and flame again?
From that time on, Fan’s daredevils did not dare to offend beggars and farriers on the roads. Having met them, they bowed and got off the chariot.
Upon learning of this, Tsai Wo informed Confucius. Confucius said:
“Don’t you know that a person full of faith is able to influence things, touch heaven and earth, gods and the souls of ancestors, cross the Universe from east to west, from north to south, from zenith to nadir.” Not only an abyss, a whirlpool or a flame - nothing can stop him. Kai from Shan Mountain believed the lie, and nothing stopped him. Especially when both sides are sincere. Remember this, young man!
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru