Page 61 - Chinese Porcelain Vol I, Galland

CHINESE MYTHOLOGY. 29

II. Wen Ti. Succeeded to the throne B.C. 179. For three
a sickness his mother had, he is said never to
years, during
have left her side or changed his apparel.
III. Tseng Shen, born B.C. 506 ; a disciple of Confucius.
one firewood on the hills and so
Being day gathering beyond
call, his mother, wanting him back, bit her finger ; by sympathy
he felt the and at once returned to comfort her.
pain,
IV. Min Sun, another disciple of Confucius. His step-
mother had two children of her own, and ill-used Min Sun.
this out, was to the wife, but
His father, finding going put away
Min Sun said it was better that one child should suffer than
three go motherless, whereupon the harsh step-mother mended
her
ways.
Y. Chung Yeo, or Tsze-lu, also a disciple of Confucius.
After he had risen to great eminence as a warrior, he used to
say in his youth he had carried ice on his back to support his
and would do so if could
parents, gladly again thereby they
be recalled.
YI. Lao Lai Tsze, at the age of seventy, dressed in gay
and like a child before his to amuse
clothing, played parents
them.
VII. Yen Tsze. His parents longing for doe's milk, he
dressed in deerskin, and, so disguised, was able to mix with a
herd in the forest, and thus obtained for his parents what they
desired as the only cure for an eye complaint they suffered
from.
VIII. Tung Yung was too poor to bury his father, so, to raise
the necessary sum, he sold himself as a bond-servant. Return-
ing from the funeral, he met a woman, who offered to marry
him ; and in a month she wove enough cloth to pay back the
money he owed, when telling him she was the star Chih Nu
sent from heaven to recompense the act of filial piety, she
wished him farewell and
disappeared.
IX. Kiang Keh, in early youth, rescued his mother from
brigands by carrying her for miles on his back (see No. 297).
X. Hwang Hiang. Losing his mother when very young, he
devoted himself to his father, fanning his pillow in summer
and warming his couch in winter.
XL His in winter, when the
Wang Siang. step-mother
rivers were frozen, expressing a desire for fresh fish, Wang