Chinese fables and folk stories — Themes and Context

have a carp fish boiled in rice wine. But it is winter and the river is frozen. I know not how you will get that fish,” and then he went away.

Wong-Ziang gave his mother the medicine, and she asked, “What did the doctor say about me?”

“He said you needed a carp fish cooked in rice wine so that you may be strong,” answered Wong-Ziang. “It is very easy for me to find one. I am going now to the river.”

But the mother said, “Not now, my son. Wait until spring. The river is covered with ice.”

“I will see,” said Wong-Ziang; and he put on his fishing clothes. [18]

His mother said, “I fear you will die, if you go into the water.”

“I will see first if there are any fish,” said he.

When Wong-Ziang reached the river, he saw it was covered with ice. He made a great hole in the ice and went in, and after swimming and diving for some time, he caught a fish for his mother.

But his breath almost left him in the cold water, and when he came out, he could not stand on the ice.

He fell down, and his clothes froze to the ice with the net and the fish he had caught.

“He is gone a long time,” thought his mother. She called a servant girl who was passing, and said, “Ah Moi, will you go down to the River Ching-Ki, and see if my boy is there?”

Ah Moi went and saw the boy and the fish in the net lying frozen on the ice together.

She called, “Wong-Ziang,” but when no answer came back to her, she thought, “He is dead,” and ran in fear. But she met a farmer who was riding a cow and she told him, “Wong-Ziang is dead on the ice.” The farmer left his cow and went with her to see.

The farmer took off his own coat and wrapped it around the boy. He carried him in his arms and said to the servant, “I think he is not dead. Take the fish and net at once to Wong-Ziang’s mother.”

In an hour Wong-Ziang came to life again. He arose and cooked the fish for his mother. And in fifteen days she was well.

Soon after this, Wong-Ziang was given work in the next village as cook for a rich professor who had many pupils.

One day he went to the wilderness to cut wood. His mother knew that her boy worked hard, and so she went with him to help and they worked until sunset.

Suddenly a small tiger came out of the forest towards the mother, and from fear she became as one dead. Wong-Ziang screamed and made a great noise. He threw his clothes at the beast and it ran away. Then he carried his mother home, and the neighbors who had watched him all his life said, “Wong-Ziang will become a Hsao-Tsze if he is always like this.”

Wong-Ziang had seen twenty-one years when his mother died, and he had never left her for one day in all his life. He was liked by his teachers, schoolmates, and neighbors, for they said, “We can learn a great lesson from Wong-Ziang who has loved and honored his mother perfectly.”

While his mother was living, Wong-Ziang worked for her and spent little time or money in study; but after she died, he studied hard. When his work in the professor’s kitchen was done each day, he always sat outside the schoolroom door where he heard the teacher giving lessons to his pupils. [19]

For seven years he studied in this way before the teacher, Liao-Tsai, knew; but one day he found out what Wong-Ziang had been doing. In time he came to love him as his own son and he asked him, “Would you like to be my Chi-tsze (son by adoption)?”

And Wong-Ziang said, “I would, but I am poor and unlearned, and you are rich and honored. It could not be.”

But his teacher said, “I want you in my school. I have had many pupils, but none that have worked and learned as you have. I have known many sons, but none of them served and honored his parents so faithfully. Think about this two or three days and then give me your answer.”

After three days Wong-Ziang decided: and he came to Liao-Tsai, his teacher, and, kneeling down before him, he bowed his head low. And after this time he was as the professor’s own son.

In sixteen years, Wong-Ziang graduated from the great University with highest honors. He had studied all the books of the Chinese schools and was now a Han-Ling (Ph.D.).