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.