When Mencius, was visiting King Hwuy of Lëang, the King went and stood with him by a pond.
Looking around on the wild geese and deer, large and small, the King said, “Do wise and good princes take pleasure in these things?”
Mencius replied, “Being wise and virtuous, they have pleasure in these things. If they are not wise and virtuous, although they have these things, they do not find pleasure in them.”
Mencius continued: “King Wan had a park like this, which was for himself and the people. He used the strength of the people to make his tower and pond, and the people rejoiced to do the work, calling the tower ‘the Marvellous Tower,’ and the pond ‘the Marvellous Pond,’ and were glad that he had his deer, his fishes and turtles.
“He had his tower, the pond, birds and animals, but how could he have pleasure alone? The ancients caused their people to have pleasure as well as themselves, and therefore they could enjoy what they had.
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