It is against this background that "The Clam and the Sandpiper" was written. It was said that at that time the State of Chu, in the south, was planning an attack on the State of Yen, one of the northern states. Upon learning about this plan, Yen sent an envoy to Chu with this fable to make the King of Chu realize that a war between their two states would result in their mutual destruction with all the benefits going only to a third state symbolized by the fisherman.

"Ho's Jade" was recorded by Han Fei, a scholar-official who lived toward the end of this period of the Warring States and died in 233 B.C. Reflecting the plight of the intellectuals in the time of turmoil, the story shows the perseverance of a man with a good knowledge of valuable things, like the intellectuals who traveled around the states in order to interest kings and dukes in their ideas. Even though Ho had to face the cruel fate of severe punishments and humiliations twice, he persisted in his loyalty toward his ideal of Truth and eventually came out as a hero.

Both “Friendship” and “Liu Ling” came from a famous book, New Tales from the Human World, written by Liu Yi-qing (A.D. 402-444), who recorded many of the stories he had heard from various sources.  As a scholar-official himself, Liu was greatly interested in the life and ideas of his fellow intellectuals in a time of great changes.  During that period, there were a succession of short-lived dynasties, a series of invasions by nomadic hordes, and a range of human suffering.  It was a time of frustration and despair.  Men of ideas and wisdom, who would normally devote themselves to their Confucian duties in serving society, turned away to become hermits in the mountains or eccentrics in human society in order to escape from their tragic fates.

“Friendship” is a story about the times of the invasion of the barbarian tribes who were known for their utter disregard for human lives and values.  Typical of the Confucian tradition, which promoted moral courage and integrity as a resistance against the cruelty of the invaders, this tale concerning the loyalty of Xun toward his dying friend is one of those that warms the hearts of the Chinese even today.  It was Xun’s sense of loyalty that saved a village from destruction.

“Liu Ling” is the story of a person in the third century A.D., known as one of the famous “Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove.”  All learned scholars and great poets of their own time, they shunned ugly politics and turned to music, wine, and nature as an escape from society.  In avoiding their duties to society they were no longer models of Confucian virtues but practitioners of the Taoist philosophy of life.