HE LAY ON ICE IN SEARCH OF CARP

卧冰求鲤 HE LAY ON ICE IN SEARCH OF CARP


晋。王祥母丧。继母朱氏。不慈。父前数谮之。由是失爱于父母欲食鲜鱼。时天寒地冻。祥解衣。卧冰求之。冰忽自解。双鲤跃出。持归供母。有诗为颂。诗曰

Wáng Xiáng of the Jìn dynasty lost his mother early. His stepmother, named Zhū, was unloving toward him and unceasingly spoke ill of him before his father. Because of this he lost the love of his father also. His stepmother often liked to eat fresh fish, but one winter the cold froze [the river] to ice. Xiáng loosened his clothes and lay on the ice to [melt it so he could] procure them. Suddenly the ice opened of itself and a pair of carp leapt out. He took them and returned to serve them to his stepmother. A verse speaks of this:



继母人间有。王祥天下无。至今河上水。留得卧冰模。

We have seen stepmothers before,

But never a Wáng Xiáng,

Until today upon the river, when

He left us a model by lying on the ice.