Before Completion: success. But if the little fox, after nearly completing the crossing, gets his tail in the water, there is nothing that would further. Every line stands out of place — yet the judgment opens with success, for all the materials of order are present and the transition is at hand: this is the hour before the crossing is done, the winter's end, the almost. The old fox crosses ice listening; the little fox, confident too early, soaks his tail at the final step. Care to the very end is the entire teaching.
Fire over water: the superior person is careful in the differentiation of things, so that each finds its place. Before completion, the wise sort — task from task, person from role, step from step — for the crossing succeeds exactly as precisely as things are placed.
You are close — the goal is genuinely in sight, the crossing nearly made — and this final hexagram of the I Ching gives the counsel of the threshold: the last steps decide everything, and they are precisely where confidence spills what care carried. Do not celebrate on the ice; finish like the old fox, testing each step, keeping every faculty deployed until you stand on the far bank entirely. Sort the remaining pieces carefully — right person, right order, right moment for each final move. The book ends here deliberately: before completion, always — the crossing that ends one cycle begins another. Finish beautifully, and begin again.
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