During China's Spring and Autumn Period, there was a filial son in the Tan family whose name has not been recorded. People simply referred to him as Young Master Tan, or Tanzi. While he was quite young, both his parents came down with an eye disease that the doctors said could only be cured by giving them deer's milk to drink. As the family was very poor, and milk was both rare and expensive, the young lad was upset and worried that he would be unable to provide the medicine that could cure his mother and father. Wandering out in the mountains, he pondered the situation, but couldn't come up with a solution. There in the meadow before him, a herd of deer grazed. The does stood patiently while the spring's crop of young fawns frolicked and ran, then returned to their mothers to nurse on milk.
'That's it!" exclaimed Master Tan. "I'll get my folks deer's milk!" The next morning, dressed in a deer's skin, with head, tail and fur, Tanzi set off for the mountain meadow, bucket in hand. When the young deer ran, Tanzi ran beside them. When they grazed, he stood and grazed. When they came to the does for milk, Tanzi nursed too, only the milk went into his bucket, not into his stomach.
When the day was over, Tanzi carefully walked back down the mountain, carrying a full bucket of milk, delighted with the success of his plan. His parents were overjoyed to have deer's milk to drink, and praised their clever, considerate, and resourceful boy. The next day, Young Master Tan returned to the meadow and again played with the fawns, and again returned home at sunset with a bucket of milk. So it continued for weeks, and his parents began to recover their sight, thanks to their filial son's dutiful sacrifice on the mountainside.
One day as Tanzi was playing amid the young deer, the herd leaders suddenly bleated, picked up their white tails, and ran for the trees. The herd followed in fear, leaving Tan Dz alone in the middle of the meadow. He looked towards the path and saw why the deer had fled. A fierce-looking hunter, bow in hand, stood in the shade, prepared to shoot some venison.
Arrows began to zip past Tanzi's ears, their deadly whistle much too close for comfort. The boy quickly stood up, threw back his deer-skin cloak and loudly shouted, "I'm a person, not a deer. Don't shoot !" The hunter was shocked. "Hey, Boy, what are you doing here in the woods! I nearly killed you! Why are you dressed up like that?"
Tanzi answered, "My parents are sick and need deer's milk to drink in order to recover. I come here to milk the does, disguised as a deer." Deeply impressed, the hunter said softly, "You are certainly a rare child, to go to so much trouble for your parents. But this is dangerous! If you had waited one minute longer to reveal your identity, I would have shot you down. Be more careful in the future!" After this warning, the hunter escorted Young Master Tan safely out of the forest and back home.
A verse in his honor says,
His parents needed milk, their eyes to cure,
He robed his body in a suit of fur.
If he had failed to shout aloud, "Don't shoot!"
The hunter would have killed him for a deer.
Laboring For His Mother: Jiang Ge
Jiang Ge carrying his mother on his back meeting with a bandit During the Later Han Dynasty, a filial son named Jiang Ge supported his widowed mother. As his father had passed on years ago, the son and mother got along as best they could. Bandit gangs roamed the countryside nearby, and Jiang Ge resolved to take his mother to safety, far from the chaos and trouble of his home. Having no cart or horse, the young man simply carried his mother on his back along the highway, escaping the onslaught of the brigands. As luck would have it they promptly ran into first one, then another group of rebels. When the leaders demanded that Jiang Ge join their number, the young filial son knelt down and pleaded for mercy, crying, "If I run off with you, my old mother will starve. She needs me to take care of her; please let us travel on in peace."
Touched by his sincere plea, the bandits would always let them go. Traveling in this way, the two eventually reached the county of Xiabi in Jiangsu province. They had spent all their money, and their clothing had grown tattered and torn beyond repair. Lacking relatives in Jiangsu to support them, mother and son could only fashion a lean-to of grass and camp out with the other refugees from the civil war to the North.
Jiang Ge would go out each morning in search of odd jobs. Whatever bits of cash he earned would go to supporting his mother in the style she was accustomed to before her husband had passed on. Jiang Ge wore ragged clothes and went barefoot, he are wild greens and broken rice himself, but the clothing and food he provided for his mother was the finest he could afford. He was not the least bit remiss in the care of his mother. Their neighbors praised his selflessness in service to his mother, and urged him to relax the ascetic hardship he imposed upon himself. Jiang Ge would only smile, and say, "A son's duty is to care for his parents."
At long last he found a secure, salary-paying job that promised a comfortable living for his mother. Peace had returned to their home-land by this time, and his mother wished to return. The ride in a horse-drawn cart would have proved too strenuous for her, so Jiang Ge passed over the good job that could have brought him a luxurious life. Instead he found a sturdy cart, settled his mother comfortably within, and pulled it himself all the way back home. Good people all along the way praised his devotion as a genuine model of filial compliance.
A verse in his praise says,
Bearing mother on his back, he fled the troubled land.
Evil bandits caught them on the road.
A plea for mercy saved their lives, as always,
He labored hard to treat his mother well.
Clad In A Threadbare Jacket, He Tolerated His Cruel Stepmother: Min Ziqian A cold Min Ziqian dropping the cart veins and getting scolded by his father Confucius's disciple, Min Ziqian was foremost in filial respect. His mother died early, and his father remarried, but to a woman who mistreated her stepson. Because he was not her natural child, she gave him only cruel words and harsh treatment. Min Ziqian often went cold and hungry, and suffered from loneliness, as his stepmother gave all her love and attention to her own two sons.
When the weather turned cold, the second Mrs. Min made her two sons warm coats padded with warm cotton linings. She gave Min Ziqian a coat stuffed only with dry rushes. From the outside the two coats looked alike, but the one stuffed with reeds was not warm at all. It neither blocked the biting wind, nor kept out the stinging cold. His only jacket being so thin, Min Ziqian was always shivering and miserable in the cold.
One icy winter day, Min Ziqian's father had business in town, and told the boy to fetch the horse and cart from the stable. The evening air was frigid, the wind blew hard, and the young boy was so cold that his entire body trembled. His hands and feet were frozen to the point of immobility. His numb fingers dropped the cart reins, and his father scolded him for his clumsiness.
In his anger the man grabbed Ziqians coat-sleeve and ripped it from the jacket, revealing the dried grass lining. He was shocked at the sight of the flimsy jacket that could not protect his son from the cold. Mr. Min suddenly recognized the pattern of cruel treatment his wife had given his boy. He understood at once the injustice of her harshness, and it infuriated him so that he flew into a rage.
He ran back into the house, yelling at the top of his lungs for his wife. She appeared and cowered before him on her knees. He angrily ordered her to leave the house and never return. Min Ziqian knelt beside his stepmother and begged his father to give her another chance. He pleaded for leniency. "When my mother is here only one boy has to suffer the cold. But if she goes, then three sons will have no one to care for them. Please, Father, let her stay!"
At this, his stepmother cried piteously in deep shame. She was so deeply touched that her attitude totally changed. She turned over a new leaf, and ever after treated Min Ziqian as lovingly as she did her own sons.
A verse in his honor says,
Mr. Min, the widower, has a worthy son;
Who never grudged his second mother's hateful, wicked ways.
"Keep her here at home!", he begged, while kneeling by the cart.
"Or else three boys will suffer from the biting wind and frost."
Lying Down On The Ice to Fetch Carp For His Stepmother: Wang Xiang
His tears and body heat melted a hole in the ice
During the Jin Dynasty, a young boy named Wang Xiang (Wang the Lucky) lost his mother to illness. His father took another wife so that the boy would have maternal care. His stepmother, however, was a bad-tempered, evil-natured woman, who took a dislike to her stepson, and often berated him in front of his father. This went on incessantly, and eventually, she managed to turn Lucky Wang's father against the boy. Despite this hardship, Lucky Wang remained devoted in his filial regard for them both.
One winter it was unusually cold, and snow fell for many days. The snow piled up on all sides of the house, and the small creek nearby froze solid with ice. The severe weather forced the family indoors, and all the animals found shelter wherever they could. The world outdoors was a broad blanket of white. Wang Xiang's stepmother took sick. She craved medicine, and her thoughts fixed on the image of fresh fish. She demanded fresh carp as medicine to cure her illness. As it was still snowing, and everywhere the rivers had long since frozen solid, where could fresh fish be found? Lucky Wang was a dutiful son, however, and could not bear seeing his parents unhappy.
He forced his way out into the cold and walked to the creek side to see what he could do. The snow was piled deep, and the boy shivered in the cold. He looked and looked, but found no access to running water. Tired and disappointed, he sat down on the ice and lamented his failure to find fish to cure his mother. Having no way to solve the problem, he simply let his tears flow. An idea came to him as he cried, and having no recourse, in his desperation, he removed his coat and shirt, and lay down on the ice amid his hot tears. The more he cried, the more upset he got. The more upset he got, the more his tears flowed. Before long, his body heat and the apidly expanding puddle of tears melted a hole in the ice. Two carp that had been frozen into the river-water suddenly leaped up out of the crack in the ice and flopped onto the bank. Amazed and delighted, Wang Xiang scooped them up and carried them home to his ailing mother.
Seeing the two live fish, Wang Xiang's stepmother felt thoroughly ashamed of her selfishness. Afterwards, she changed her attitude towards her stepson, and became a kind and caring person. Many people said that Wang Xiang's response came from his sincere filial devotion. His noble attitude moved Nature into giving him a reward.
A verse in his honor says,
Stepmothers abound on this earth,
But rare are sons like Lucky Wang.
Even now when the river freezes over,
We recall his icy sacrifice for Mother.
Stealing Oranges To Take Home For His Mother: Lu Ji
Little Lu Ji dropping the oranges he took for his mother during a visit In the Later Han Period, a young boy of only six years old showed a deep filial regard for his mother. He traveled with his father to visit the Chief Minister of Nan Yang, named Yuan Shu.
Elder Yuan Shu saw how precocious the young boy was, and ordered his butler to bring a dish of oranges to offer to young Lu Ji. The boy saw the delicious, large fruit, and immediately ate two .
He waited until nobody was looking, and secreted three oranges away in the sleeve of his robe. When it was time to say good-bye, along with his father, little Lu Ji raised his hands up in salute.
Unexpectedly, the three oranges came rolling out, and fell to the floor in front of Lu Ji.
Yuan Shu saw the oranges and laughed: "Little Brother, you're my guest today. How come you stole your host's oranges?" The little boy replied, "Pardon me, my mother likes oranges best of all.
Because we don't have any money, it's hard to provide oranges for her. Today I enjoyed two of these ripe, sweet, oranges, and I could not resist taking a few of them back for Mother.
She likes them so much."
Minister Yuan Shu was impressed by the six-year-old's concern for his mother's happiness. He told his staff to give the entire plate of fruit to Lu Ji for his family.
A verse in his honor says:
Filial love and brotherhood made nature "Heaven-True",
Most rare in a boy just six years old.
He hid three oranges in his sleeve, as a gift for his Mom,
Just a token to repay her kindness without end.
Burying His Son To Save His Mother: Guo Ju
Guo Ju and wife wanted to bury their son so his mother can have enough to eat Guo Ju lived during the Han Dynasty with his wife, his aging mother, and their three-year-old son. The household was extremely poor, and the four of them often found it difficult to make ends meet. There was rarely enough food to go around. The grandmother, being fond of the baby, would often take her scanty portion of food and feed it to her grandson. She never got enough nutrition and frequently went hungry. As the baby grew, the elderly woman's health deteriorated, and before long, she fell sick.
Since Guo Ju could afford neither nutritious food nor medicine to heal his mother, his heart felt great consternation. He discussed the situation with his wife, saying, "We are unfilial children. We can't feed our mother properly, and now she is sick! What are we going to do?" His wife had no solution. Guo Ju couldn't sleep at night, wrestling with his problem. His heart was agitated and upset.
In desperation, finally he resolved to part with his own son, in order to serve his first allegiance, his mother, in proper fashion, during the final days of her life. "Perhaps we can have more children in the future," he told his wife, "but mother in her old age deserves our best offerings and care. Don't you agree?"
Guo Ju's wife, although she loved her infant son, was also a devoted filial daughter. Nodding her head and weeping with grief, she agreed to go along with the heart-rending solution to their problem. The two of them carried the infant into the back yard, and with a planter's hoe, Guo Ju dug a hole in the earth. Before he had dug down three feet, he heard a loud thunk! and felt something solid beneath the hoe-blade. He dug more carefully, and unearthed a sturdy metal chest. Opening the cover, to their astonishment, they discovered a pile of golden coins and silver bars, worth a king's ransom. "Oh, look!" the husband and wife exclaimed. Written on top of the casket was a sentence: "A gift to the filial son Guo Ju."
The couple took the fortune in gold to the local magistrate, but owing to the inscription on the lid, and the unusual circumstances surrounding its appearance, the government officials returned the money to the husband and wife. Guo Ju promptly found a doctor and medicine for his mother, and was able to keep his son alive. The family ever after had sufficient supply of life's necessities and enjoyed the blessings due to filial children.
A verse in his honor says,
Guo Ju wished to .serve his aging mother;
He buried his son, so that she might live,
The gods rewarded him with golden coins;
Their brilliant gleam lit up his humble hut.
