HE SOLD HIMSELF TO BURY HIS FATHER

卖身葬父 HE SOLD HIMSELF TO BURY HIS FATHER



汉董永家贫。父死。卖身贷钱而葬。及去偿工。途遇一妇。求为永妻。俱至主家。主令织布三百匹。始得归。妇织一月而成。归至槐阴会所。遂辞永而去。有诗为颂。诗曰

In the Hàn dynasty the family of Dŏng Yŏng was very poor. When his father died, he promised himself as security to borrow money to bury him. Then he went to work [for the lender to pay back the debt]. On the way he met a woman, who asked to become Yŏng's wife, and she went with him to his master's house. The master ordered them to weave 300 bolts of silk, and then they could return [home]. His wife wove for a month and then was finished. They returned as far as the locust tree where they had met, when she bade Yŏng good-bye and vanished. There is a poem praising him, saying:



葬父贷孔兄。仙姬陌上逢。织布偿债主。孝感动苍穹。

To bury his father he has to borrow money;

A fairy concubine appears upon the road and

Weaves the silk to repay his debt;

Filial feeling moves the heavens.