HE WASHED HIS MOTHER'S BEDPAN

涤亲溺器 HE WASHED HIS MOTHER'S BEDPAN


宋。黄庭坚。号山谷。元祐中为太史。性至孝。身体贵显。奉母尽诚。每夕亲自为洗涤溺器。未曾有一刻不供人子之职。有诗为颂。诗曰：

Huáng Tíngjiān of the Sòng dynasty was also called Shāngŭ. During the Yuányòu reign period [1086-1093] he was a government compiler. His nature was filial, and although he was very prominent, he served his mother with deep sincerity. Every evening he himself washed out his mother's bedpan. A moment did not pass in which he did not display the responsibility of a son. A verse praises him saying:



贵显闻天下。平生孝事亲。不辞长涤溺。焉用婢生嗔。

He is prominent enough to be known throughout the world, but

All his life he is filial toward his mother;

He does not decline to wash out her urine;

How could he use maids and let himself be spoilt [by prominence]?

HE WEPT TILL THE BAMBOO SPROUTED

哭竹生笋 HE WEPT TILL THE BAMBOO SPROUTED
三国。孟宗。字恭武。少孤。母老病笃。多月思笋煮羹食。宗无计可得。乃往竹林中。抱竹而泣。孝感天地。须臾地裂。出笋数茎。持归。作羹奉母。食毕疾愈。有诗为颂。诗曰

Mèng Zōng of the Three Kingdoms period was also called Gōngwŭ. His father died when he was small, and his mother was very ill. One winter she longed to eat a soup made with boiled bamboo shoots. Zōng had no means to give her such a thing, and he went out to the bamboo grove where, seizing a bamboo stalk, he wept. His filial piety moved heaven and earth. In a moment, the earth cracked open and many stalks of bamboo shoots appeared. He gathered them and returned home to make soup for his mother. When she had eaten it, she recovered. Verses praise him, saying:



泪滴朔风寒。萧萧竹数竿。须臾冬笋出。天意报平安。

Tears drop; the north wind is cold

And moans through a stand of bamboo;

But winter bamboo shoots come forth!

The wish of Heaven is to bring harmony.

HE CARVED WOOD TO SERVE HIS PARENTS

刻木事亲 HE CARVED WOOD TO SERVE HIS PARENTS


汉。丁兰幼丧父母。未得奉养。而思念劬劳之恩。刻木为像。事之如生。其妻久而不敬。以针戏刺其指。则出血。木像见兰。又眼中垂泪。兰问得其情。将妻出弃之。有诗为颂。诗曰

The father and mother of Dīng Lán of the Hàn dynasty died when Lán was young and never received support and service from him. But he thought often of their "grievous toil."* He carved wooden statues and served them as though they were alive. His wife began after a time not to revere them. [One day] she took a needle and pricked their fingers in mockery. Blood flowed, and when the wooden statues saw Lán, tears fell from their eyes. Lán inquired about their condition; then he divorced his wife and cast her out.** There is a verse which says:



刻木为父母。形容如在时。寄言诸子侄。各要孝亲帏。

He carves wooden statues of his mother and father,

Giving them the appearance they had in life;

And this is to caution every son and nephew,

that each must be filial towards his parents.

*******
*-Cf. Tale 5, verse & note.
**-This is the one story which some modern editors most often rewrite, apparently in order to avoid the divorce. In a couple of retellings in my collection, the wife, seeing the statues react, is grief-stricken, reforms, and is forgiven rather than divorced by her husband. In one elaborately illustrated, heavy-paper edition designed for younger children, a neighbor's wife, come to borrow something, scoffs at Dīng Lán's wife at her devotions. Dīng Lán's wife, angered, refuses to lend her what she wants. The neighbor's wife returns home and sends her husband over, who sneers and beats the statues with his stick. Dīng Lán returns, sees the weeping statues, hears the tale, and stabs the neighbor to death. The magistrate, rather than punishing him, commends him as a fine example of filial piety.

HE HEARD THUNDER AND WEPT AT THE GRAVE

闻雷泣墓 HE HEARD THUNDER AND WEPT AT THE GRAVE


魏。王裒事母至孝。母存日。性畏雷。既卒。殡葬于山林。每遇风雨。闻阿香。响震之声。即奔墓所跪拜。泣告曰。裒在此。母亲勿惧。有诗为颂。诗曰

Wáng Póu of the state of Wèi [at the time of the Three Kingdoms] served his mother with filiality. When she was alive, she was afraid of thunder. After she died she was buried in a hilly wood. Whenever there was wind and rain and Póu would hear the loud sound of [thunder like the passing of the chariot of the thunder-goddess] Āxiāng, he would hurry to the grave and kneel and pray. He would weep, saying: "Póu is here; Mother must not be afraid." A poem praises him saying:



慈母怕闻雷。冰魂宿夜台。阿香时一震。到墓绕千回。

His loving mother feared hearing thunder;

[Now] her chill spirit dwells among the dead, and

When Āxiāng thunders over and over

He goes to the tomb to walk about it a thousand times.

THE FOUNTAIN BUBBLED AND THE CARPS LEAPT

涌泉跃鲤 THE FOUNTAIN BUBBLED AND THE CARPS LEAPT


汉。姜诗。事母至孝。妻庞氏。奉姑。尤谨。母性好饮江水。妻出汲而奉母。又嗜鱼脍。夫妇常作之。召邻。母。供食之。后舍侧忽有涌泉。味如江水。日跃双鲤。诗时取以供母。有诗为颂。诗曰

Jiāng Shī of the Hàn dynasty served his mother filially. His wife was named Páng, and she was even more respectful. The old mother liked to drink water from [a certain] river, and the wife would go to draw it and bring it back to the old lady. His mother also loved eating minced fillet of fish, and Shī and his wife often prepared it. They [even] invited the neighbors' mothers to join her when she ate. Suddenly a fountain sprang up beside the house with a taste like the water from the river, and each day two carp jumped from it, which Shī would take to give to his mother. A verse says of this:



舍侧甘泉出。朝朝双鲤鱼。子能恒孝母。妇亦孝其姑。

Beside the house a sweet fountain flows, and

Each morning a pair of fish appears;

The son can constantly be filial to his mother;

The daughter-in-law can be filial to her husband's mother.

***********

出此孝子处今为 德阳 孝泉镇

西竺 故乡 与其相距不远 自幼即闻 姜氏一门三孝之佳话 每归故里 常与亲同去 德孝城 游赏 见世间不孝事 每每感叹 纵显耀发达 然于亲不孝者 终不齿矣

HE FANNED THE PILLOW AND WARMED THE QUILT

扇枕温衾 HE FANNED THE PILLOW AND WARMED THE QUILT


汉。黄香。年九岁。失母。思慕惟切。乡人称其孝。香躬执勤苦。一意事父。夏天暑热。为扇凉其枕席。冬天寒冷。以身暖其被褥。太守刘护表而异之。有诗为颂。诗曰

When Huáng Xiāng of the Hàn dynasty was nine years old, he lost his mother. He [continued to] think of her so much and with such love that the neighbors praised his filial devotion. Xiāng did diligent and painful work, and his one thought was to serve his father. In summer, when the weather was hot, he cooled his [father's] pillow and mat with a fan. In winter, when the weather turned cold, he warmed his [father's] quilts and cushions with his body. The prefect Liú Hù publicly honored and recognized him [for his rare filiality]. A verse praises him thus:



冬月温衾暖。炎天扇枕凉。儿童知子职。千古一黄香。

In winter he warms the quilts, and

In hot weather he fans the pillow to make it cool;

The child knows a son's duty;

In a thousand ages there can be but one Huáng Xiāng.

HE PICKED MULBERRIES TO SERVE HIS MOTHER

拾桑供母 HE PICKED MULBERRIES TO SERVE HIS MOTHER


汉。蔡顺少孤。事母至孝。遭王莽乱。岁荒不给拾桑。以异器盛之。赤眉贼见而问之。顺曰。黑者奉母。赤者食。贼悯其孝。以白米三斗。牛蹄一只与之。有诗为颂。诗曰

Cài Shùn of the Hàn dynasty was left fatherless at a young age. He served his mother with utmost filial devotion. They had to endure the tumult of Wáng Măng, and the crops were bad and the land unproductive. He gathered mulberries, which he sorted into different containers until they were full. A [band of] Red-Eyebrow robbers [rebels against Wáng Măng] saw this and asked him about it. Shùn said: "The black, ripe ones I give to my mother. The red, unripe ones I eat myself." The robbers took compassion because of this filiality and gave him three catties of white rice and an ox leg. A verse says of him:



黑桑奉萱帏。饥啼泪满衣。赤眉知孝意。牛米赠君归。

With black mulberries he nourishes his mother;

Tears of hunger drench his clothing;

The Red-Eyebrows know his filial intent and

Present beef and rice for the filial son to bring home.