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II. THE LIFE AND TIMES OF CONFUCIUS, 37
interment, burying it with his mother's. The mound raised
by him over their tomb, four feet high, being about
finished, he left the final details to his disciples and set off
homewards. In the meantime a violent storm came on,
and his disciples on arriving had to explain that their
delay was due to the rain having broken down the mound.
Thrice they repeated their answer to his incredulous ears,
when he suddenly burst into tears, crying that "they did
not build such mounds in olden times." As his reason
for building the mound he _emarked that he was "a man
of tile north, the south, the east, and the x_est," one who
knew not whither Destiny might lead him; for aheady
he seems to have had premonitions that his life would be
spent far from the resting place of his parents, which
without its tumulus might be lost beyond recovery.
During the three years of mournTng he no doubt
remained in Lu, probably, as the custom was, out of
official employment, but pursuing his teaching and his
"' researches into the history, literature and institutions of
the empire." It is said that he learnt music from the
noted musician Hsiang _i ]_ in B. C. 523, and he tells
us that somewhat later, in his thirtieth year, his convictions
and objective in life had become defined. II. 4. In ]3. C.
5 I8, a powerful minister of Lu, M_ng I _ _,_ conscious
of his own deficient religious (i. e. ritual _.) knowledge,
gave orders on his deathbed that his son Ho Chi _ ,_,
was to be sent to Confucius, of whom he had acquaintance.
Tile advent of this youth with another young noble,
Nan-kung Ching-shu _ "-_ g_ ]i_ related to him, gave
immediate prestige to the school of Confucius.