If Chwangtse had lived before Mencius, or Mencius after Chwangtse, Chwangtse could have afforded to see Confucius in his true light, as Liehtse did; but the power and influence of the mind of Mencius were such that in his time there was no looking at the Master except through his glasses.  We do not know what happened when Laotse and Confucius met; but I suspect it was very like what happened when Mr. Judge met Madame Blavatsky.  But Butterfly Chwang, the rascal, undertook to let us know; and wrote it out in full.  He knew well enough what would happen if he met Mencius; and took that as his model.  He wanted Mencius to know it too.  He itched to say to him, “Put away, sir, your flashy airs,” and the rest; and so made Laotse say it to Confucius.  It shows how large Philosopher Mang had come to loom, that anyone could attribute “flashy airs” to that great-hearted simple Gentleman K’ung Ch’iu.  One thing only I believe in about that interview:  Confucius’ reputed speech on coming forth from it to his disciples:—­“There is the Dragon; I do not know how he mounts upon the wind and rises about the clouds.  Today I have seen Laotse, and can only compare him to the Dragon.”  He would have said that; it has definite meaning; the Dragon was the symbol of the spirit, and so universally recognised.—­Confucius appears to have taken none of his disciples into the Library; and Confucianist writers have had nothing to say about the incident, except that it occurred, I believe.  Chwangtse, and all Taoist writers after him, show Confucius taking his rating very quietly;—­as indeed, he would have done, had Laotse been in a mood for quizzing.  For Confucius never argued or pressed his opinions; where his words were not asked for and listened to, he retired.  But it is not possible the recognition should have been other than mutual:  the great Laotse would have known a Man when he saw him.  I like the young imperturbable K’ung Jung, precocious ten-year-old of some seven centuries later.  His father took him up to the capital when the Dragon Statesman Li Ying was the height of his power; and the boy determined on gaining an interview with Li.  He got admission to the latter’s house by claiming blood-relationship.  Asked by the great man wherein it lay, says he very sweetly:  “Your ancestor Laotse and my ancestor Confucius were friends engaged in the search for truth; may we not then be said to be of the same family?”—­ “Cleverness in youth,” sneered a bystander, “does not mean brilliancy in later life.”—­“You, Sir,” says Ten-years-old, turning to him, “must have been a very remarkable boy.” *

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* Giles:   Chinese Literature.
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The truth is, both Mencius and Chwangtse stood a step lower and nearer this world than had the two they followed:  whose station had been on the level platform at the top of the altar.  But Mencius descending had gone eastward; Chwangtse towards the west.