Liu Bei: "Can I trouble you to ask him to visit me?"
Xu Shu: "He will not condescend to visit you. You must go to him. But if he consents, you will be as fortunate as the Zhou when they got the aid of Lu Wang, or the Han when Zhang Liang came to help."
Liu Bei: "How does the unknown compare with yourself?"
Xu Shu: "With me? Compared with him I am as a worn-out carthorse to a palomino, an old duck to a phoenix. This man often compares himself with the ancient sages Guan Zhong and Yue Yi but, in my opinion, he is far their superior. He has the talent to measure the heavens and mete the earth. He is a man who overshadows every other in the world."
Liu Bei: "I would know his name."
Xu Shu: "He belongs to Langye, and his name is Zhuge Liang. He is of the family of the former General Zhuge Feng. His father, Zhuge Gui, was the Deputy Governor of Taishan but died young, and the young fellow went with his uncle Zhuge Xuan to Jingzhou. Imperial Protector Liu Biao was an old friend of his uncle, and Zhuge Liang became settled in Xiangyang. Then his uncle died, and he and his younger brother, Zhuge Jun, returned to their farm in Nanyang and worked as farmers. They used to amuse themselves with the composition of songs in the Liangfu style.
On their land was a ridge of hills called the Sleeping Dragon, and the elder of the brothers took it as a name and called himself Master Sleeping Dragon. This is your man. He is a veritable genius. You ought really to visit him. And if he will help you, you need feel no more anxiety about peace in the empire."
Liu Bei: "Water Mirror spoke that time of two persons, Sleeping Dragon and Young Phoenix, and said if only one of them could be got to help me all would be well. Surely he, whom you speak of, is one of them."
Xu Shu: "Young Phoenix is Pang Tong of Xiangyang, and Sleeping Dragon is Zhuge Liang."
Liu Bei jumped with delight, "Now at last I know who the mysterious ones are. How I wish they were here! But for you I should have still been an unclued man," said he.
Someone has celebrated in verse this interview where Xu Shu from horseback recommended Zhuge Liang:
Liu Bei heard that his able friend
Must leave him, with saddened heart,
For each to the other had grown very dear,
Both wept when it came to part.
But the parting guest then mentioned a name
That echoed both loud and deep,
Like a thunder clap in a spring-time sky,
And there wakened a dragon from sleep.
Thus was Zhuge Liang recommended to Liu Bei, and Xu Shu rode away.
Source: http://threekingdoms.com
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