They considered how it would be with Such a One:  going among men as the Gods’ Messenger, and with those two Gloves for his treasure.—­“This way will it be,” they said.  “Not having the treasure of the God of Light, he will seem as one without vision of the God-world or remembrance whence he came.  Not having the treasure of the God of Music, he will awaken little song with the Bards.  But having the Gloves, he will hold the gates of hell shut, so far as shut they may be, through all the cycle that is coming.”

With that the council ended.  But Plenydd God of Light and Vision thought:  “Though my treasure has gone with the Old Philosopher, and I cannot endow this man with it, I will make him Such a One as can be seen by all men; I will throw my light on him, that he may be an example through the age of ages.”  And Alawn God of Music thought:  “Though my lute has gone with Laotse, I will confer boons on this one also.  Such a One he shall be, as draws no breath but to tunes of my playing; the motions of his mind, to my music, shall be like the motions of the ordered stars.”—­ And they both thought:  “It will be easy for me to do as much as this, with his having the Gloves of Gwron on his hands.”

At that time K’ung Shuhliang Heih, Commander of the district of Tsow, in the Marquisate of Lu in Shantung, determined to marry again.

Now China is a vast democracy:  the most democratic country in the world.  Perhaps I shall come to proving that presently; for the moment I must ask you to let it pass on the mere statement, satisfied that it is true.  Despite this radical democracy, then, she has had two noble families.  One is descended from a famous Patriot-Pirate of recent centuries, known to Westerners as Koxinga; with it we have no concern.  The other is to be found in the town of K’iuh-fow in Shantung, in the ancient Marquisate of Lu.  There are about fifty thousand members of it, all bearing the surname K’ung; its head has the title of ’Duke by Imperial Appointment and hereditary right’; and, much prouder still, ‘Continuator of the Sage.’

Dukes of England sometimes trace their descent from men who came over with William the Conqueror:  a poor eight centuries is a thing to be proud of.  There may be older families in France, Italy, and elsewhere.  Duke K’ung traces his, through a line of which every scion appears more of less in history, to the son of this K’ung Shuhliang Heih in the sixth century B.C.; who in turn traced his, through a line of which every scion appeared in history, and all, with one possible exception, very honorably, to a member of the Imperial House of Shang who, in 1122 B.C., on the fall of that house, was created Duke of Sung in Honan by the first of the Chows.  The House of Shang held the throne for some five centuries, beginning with Tang the Comnpleter in 1766, who traced his descent from the Yellow Emperor in mythological times.  Duke K’ung, then, is descended in direct male line from sovereigns who reigned beyond the horizon of history,—­at the latest, near the beginning of the third millennium B.C.  The family has been distinguished for nearly five thousand years.