The King of Chu Lost His Bow

Once upon a time, the king of Ch'u State went on hunting in his Yün-mêng Park, he drew his bow, and put on arrows to shoot snakes and rhinoceroses, but he lost his bow.

His attendants wished to search for it, but the king stopped them, saying,

--The king of Ch'u has lost the bow, and a man of Ch'u will get it, what need to search for it?

When Confucius heard of this, he said,

--The king of Chu is good and kind, but not quite perfect.

And he went on saying,

-- When a man gets rid of his bow, and another man finds it, it is all right. But why must it be a man of Ch'u?

Does Confucius object to the 'local patriotism'? The king of Ch'u would leave his bow to an inhabitant of Ch'u only, Confucius commented that the king of Ch'u is good and kind, but he was not a sage, his love didn't extended to embraces all mankind, so he was not quite perfect. What if the King of Ch'u lost his throne?

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