. A'Chu and other stories. k of woodinto another. Then men began to use fire to cookfood. They no longer ate raw food like the also taught his people to count and to record ac-counts. Instead of writing figures in columns, —units, tens, hundreds, etc., — they tied knots in astring. The length of the space before a knot in-dicated its value. These stories are only legends or myths, and giveno account of anything that even might have hap-pened. However, they do help us to understand thatfrom those earliest times the Chinese have not knownGod as the creator of all things and a kind heav
. A'Chu and other stories. k of woodinto another. Then men began to use fire to cookfood. They no longer ate raw food like the also taught his people to count and to record ac-counts. Instead of writing figures in columns, —units, tens, hundreds, etc., — they tied knots in astring. The length of the space before a knot in-dicated its value. These stories are only legends or myths, and giveno account of anything that even might have hap-pened. However, they do help us to understand thatfrom those earliest times the Chinese have not knownGod as the creator of all things and a kind heavenlyFather. Instead of depending on a Saviours power,they have thought that every man, like Pan Ku,the first man, must work out his own salvation inhis own strength. Origin of the Chinese 105 THE ANCIENT BOOK OF HISTORY Confucius, Chinas greatest teacher, undertook topiece together all the early writings he could findinto a history of China. He collected accounts thathad been preserved in writing upon strips of bamboo,. PAGODA, TEMPLE, AND MONASTERY NEAR CANTON and with great patience and labor put them togetherin what is called The Ancient Book of rulers of these early times, Yao (b. c. 2356)and Shun (b. c. 2255), are especially revered by Con-fucius and by his pupil Mencius. To the present time 106 AChu and Other Stories these men are esteemed the wisest and most virtuousthat ever ruled this people. Their reigns are regardedas the Golden Age of Chinese history. At this early period China had already become amonarchy ruled by kings instead of, as in the begin-ning, by merely tribal chiefs selected, like the judgesof Israel, because they had proved themselves mostfitted to defend the nation. THE OLDEST NATION Although these accounts collected by Confucius arefirmly believed by the majority of Chinese scholars, thetruth in them is so mixed with legend that it is al-most impossible to tell what is true and what is purelylegendary. Of this, however, we may be certa
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