Lao Tse is really older than heaven and earth put together.
He is the Yellow Lord,
Or Ancient,
Who created this world together with the other four.
At various times he has appeared on earth,
Under various names.
His most celebrated incarnation,
However,
Is that of Lao Tse,
The Old Child,
Which name he was given because he made his appearance on earth with white hair.
He acquired all sorts of magic powers by means of which he extended his life span.
Once he hired a servant to do his bidding,
He agreed to give him a hundred pieces of copper daily.
Yet he did not pay him,
And finally he owned him seven million,
Two hundred thousand pieces of copper.
Then he mounted a black steer and rode to the west.
He wanted to take his servant along,
But when they reached the Hangul Pass,
The servant refused to go further and insisted on being paid,
Yet Lao Tse gave him nothing.
When they came to the house of the Guardian of the Pass,
Red clouds appeared in the sky.
The Guardian understood this sign and knew that a holy man was drawing near,
So he went out to meet him and took him into his house.
He questioned him with regard to hidden knowledge,
But Lao Tse only stuck out his tongue at him and would not say a word.
Nevertheless,
The Guardian of the Pass treated him with the greatest respect in his home.
Lao Tse's servant told the servant of the Guardian that his master owed him a great deal of money,
And begged the latter to put in a good word for him,
But the Guardian's servant heard how large a sum it was.
He was tempted to win so wealthy a man for a son-in-law,
And he married him to his daughter.
Finally the Guardian heard of the matter and came to Lao Tse together with the servant.
Then Lao Tse said to his servant,
You rascally servant,
You really should have been dead long ago.
I hired you,
And since I was poor and could give you no money,
I gave you a life giving talisman to eat.
That is how you still happen to be alive.
I said to you,
If you will follow me into the West,
The land of the blessed repose,
I will pay you your wages in yellow gold.
But you did not wish to do this,
And with that he patted his servant's neck.
Thereupon the latter opened his mouth and spat out the life-giving talisman.
The magic signs written on it with cinnabar,
Quite fresh and well preserved,
Might still be seen,
But the servant suddenly collapsed and turned into a heap of dry bones.
Then the Guardian of the past cast himself to the earth and pleaded for him.
He promised to pay the servant for Lao Tse and begged the latter to restore him to life.
So Lao Tse placed the talisman among the bones and at once the servant came to life again.
The Guardian of the past paid him his wages and dismissed him.
Then he adored Lao Tse as his master,
And the latter taught him the art of eternal life,
And he left him his teachings in five thousand words,
Which the Guardian wrote down.
The book which thus came into being is the Tao Te Ching,
The book of the way and life.
Lao Tse then disappeared from the eyes of man.
The Guardian of the past,
However,
Followed his teachings and was given a place among the immortals.
Once upon a time there was a man,
Huang An.
He must have been well over eighty,
And yet he looked like a youth.
He lived on cinnabar and wore no clothing.
Even in winter he went about without garments.
He sat on a tortoise three feet long.
Once he was asked about how old might his tortoise be,
He answered,
When Fu He first invented fishnets and eel pots.
He caught the tortoise and gave it to me,
And since then I have worn its shield,
Quite flat sitting on it.
The creature dreads the radiance of the sun and moon,
So it only sticks its head out of its shell once in a two thousand years.
Since I have had the beast,
It has already stuck its head out five times.
With these words he took his tortoise on his back and went off.
And the legend arose that this man was ten thousand years old.
The end.
