During a hot summer season, a prefect (長官) had attempted to arrest a foreign barbarian (南蠻), Din Du Na Fing, for using counterfeit ingots (元寶)) in the marketplace. When the prefect accidentally killed the wild man, the city's foreigners were outraged, and they started many fires.
Several students came to the Master, nervous about the conflagrations and looting, and asked what should be done.
The Master replied: "What Righteousness (義) is there to come between the corrupt prefects and the wild barbarians when they fight? Both Filial Piety (孝) and Wisdom (智) tell us we should stay home and tend to our families."
Then the Master asked what they thought of his new sandals, although he would not say where they had come from. It seemed Heaven itself (天) had blessed him with them.