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.