To take a few instances. In 559 the ruler of Wei had severely
beaten his court music-master for failing to teach a concubine how
to play the lute. One day the prince invited to dinner some
statesmen, the father of one of whom had taken offence at the
prince's rudeness; and he ordered the same musician to strike up
the last stanza of a certain ode hinting at treason, which the
malicious performer did in such a way as to give further offence
to the father through his son, and to bring about the dethronement
of the indiscreet prince. It gives us confidence in the truth of
these anecdotes when we find that K'ue-peh-yueh was consulted by the
offended father as to what course he ought to pursue. This Wei
statesman, who has already been twice mentioned in connection with
other matters, met Ki-chah of Wu when the latter visited that
state in 544, and he was also an admired senior acquaintance of
Confucius himself, whom he twice lodged at his house for many
months. Three chapters of the "Book" still remain, after
Confucius' manipulations of it, to prove how Wei was first
enfeoffed by the Duke of Chou, and one of the Odes actually sings
the praises of a Ts'i princess who married the prince of Wei in
753 B.
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