One day, seated in the ancestral hall, King Hui of Liang saw a man leading an ox pass by. He asked: "Where are you taking the ox?"
The man leading the ox stopped and answered: "I am taking it to be slaughtered1 and will use its blood to paint the bell."
As King Hui heard this, he felt pity for the ox and said: "How can that be done? You are too cruel. Let it go at once. It is not guilty. How can you kill it? I cannot bear to see it panic-stricken, shedding2 tears and trembling before its death."
The man leading the ox asked: "Do you mean that I shall let the ox go and not paint the bell? Is that it?"
King Hui answered: "What are you saying? How can you not paint the bell! Let the ox go, but
