Paragraph 2: Chunyu Kun (淳于髡) (1/3)
Chunyu Kun, a man who wived in Qi the Dukedom and stayed, was short in height (no more than 7 Zhou feet, i.e., 162cm) but eloquent in speech. He set out many times as an emissary to other dukedoms; he never for once yielded himself or his dukedom to any humiliation. In reign was Qi Weiwang, a duke who enjoyed riddles. In the early years of his reign, Weiwang lusted for carnal pleasures and often feasted late into the night. Such indulgence of his took over all obligations due a ruler. His courtiers had to manage a dukedom without a duke at court. The court then fell into disorder and the land began to fall into the hands of other dukes. The future of Qi hung by a thread. It appeared that the dukedom was about to meet its doom. Even so, none of Weiwang's courtiers durst to utter a word of admonition. Chunyu Kun then made an attempt in his riddle. "There in this dukedom is a bird," he said, "enormous in size, perching upon your palace; for three full years, it neither flipped a wing nor made a sound. I wonder if Your Highness know what bird this is." Weiwang then replied, "This bird rarely flies, but once it does, it reaches the zenith; this bird hardly sings, but once it does, it takes people by surprise." Upon these words, Weiwang convened all his 72 magistrates from around the dukedom. He executed one and rewarded one. With order restored and discipline demanded, Weiwang readied an army to defend his territory. For fear of him, the dukes returned every piece of land they took from Qi. It then became one of the most powerful dukedoms among them all and so it remained for 36 years. This is recorded in, "House of Wan" (i.e., "House of Tian Jingzhong" 田敬仲世家, one of the 30 volumes of "Biographies of the Feudal Houses and Eminent Persons" 世家 in The Records of the Grand Historian ).
*淳于髡者，齊之贅婿也。長不滿七尺，滑稽多辯，數(shuo4)使諸侯，未嘗屈辱。齊威王之時喜隱，好為淫樂長夜之飲，沈湎不治，委政卿大夫。百(bo2)官荒亂，諸侯並侵，國且危亡，在於旦暮，左右莫敢諫。淳于髡說(shui4)之以隱曰：「國中有大鳥，止王之庭，三年不蜚(fei1)又不鳴，王知此鳥何也？」王曰：「此鳥不飛則已，一飛沖天；不鳴則已，一鳴驚人。」於是乃朝諸縣令長七十二人，賞一人，誅一人，奮兵而出。諸侯振驚，皆還齊侵地。威行三十六年。語在《田完世家》中。
**The original paragraph in Chinese is taken from: Sima Qian. Ed. Han Zhaoqi. New Translation Shiji. vol.VIII. Taipei
***All translation is mine.
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