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FAMOUS FILIALS, 
 
 OR 
 
 RENOWNED BOYS OF CHINA. 
 
 {^Translated from (he Chinese.^ 
 
 HY 
 
 CLARA NI. CUSHMAN. 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 BOSTON : 
 
 PUBLISHED FOR THE TRANSL.\TOR. 
 
 1886. 
 
“Filial Duty is the Root of Virtue.” 
 
 — Confucius. 
 
 All Chinese writers extol this virtue, and many books 
 and stories have been written to set forth the good results 
 of filial piety, and the evil effects of unfilial conduct. 
 
 The stories in this book are taken from one of the most 
 famous collections, called “ Erh Shih Ssu Hsiao.” More 
 children are familiar with these stories than ever heard of 
 “ George Washington and his Hatchet.” 
 
 Many of them are related of boys whose fame has lasted 
 through thousands of 3'ears. 
 
 They have been translated, not because they are “true 
 stories ” or the moral is always commendable, but because 
 they give a glimpse at one of the influences that is at work 
 in China. 
 
 Who can calculate the vast influence such stories have 
 had through the centuries in moulding Chinese character 
 and “ in imbuing the lad with a respect for his parents that 
 finally becomes intensified into a religious sentiment and 
 forms, as he increases in age, his only creed — the worship 
 of ancestors?” 
 
K yXIVlOUJS K 1 LI ALS. 
 
 Filial Piety moves Heaven. 
 
 Four thousand years ago lived a man, named 
 Shun, who was a very filial son. His father was 
 called Ku Son, or “ Blind Old Man,” because he 
 was so perverse, and so blind to the virtues of his 
 son. His mother was very stupid, and his brother 
 treated him very scornfully. Although this was so, 
 he exerted himself to the uttermost for his family ; 
 unappreciated as he was, he cherished no resentment, 
 and in the exercise of filial piety put forth all his 
 strength. 
 
 By the riverside he made earthen vessels, and they 
 were neither thin nor coarse ; in the Lei Tze Lake 
 he fished, and feared not mighty winds, falling rains, 
 or rolling thunder. 
 
His faithful tilling of the ground moved the hearts 
 of beasts and birds. Elephants came to assist him in 
 the tilling, while little birds flew down to turn the 
 soil for him. 
 
 The Emperor Yao heard of Shun’s commendable 
 conduct, and put him in charge of affairs, and sent 
 nine sons to serve him, in order to scrutinize his 
 business life ; he also gave him his two daughters as 
 wives, in order to investigate his daily life. Shun 
 conducted affairs for twenty-eight years, at the end 
 of which time, the Emperor Yao ceded the throne 
 to him. 
 
 Elephants by pairs the fields did till. 
 
 Birds in flocks the weeds did kill, 
 
 Heaven’s heart was moved by the filial son. 
 
 And Shun followed Yao to the Dragon Throne. 
 

 
Filial Prayer moves the Tiger’s Heart 
 
 During the Ming dynasty there lived a man 
 called Pao Shih Fu, who was the only support of 
 his aged father and mother. He served them with 
 the tenderest care. One day as he was going about 
 in the performance of his filial duties, he met a fierce 
 tiger that seized him by his long, loose garments, and 
 bore him away to the woods. He trembled not for 
 his own fate, and not a thought of the suffering he 
 must endure, if devoured by this cruel beast, entered 
 his mind. 
 
 In this hour of extreme danger his only thought 
 was of those who were dependent upon him for their 
 living. Moved by such filial emotions, he prostrated 
 himself before the ferocious beast, and worshipping 
 him, said, “I am the only support of my aged par- 
 ents. If I die, how can they subsist Who will 
 feed them ? Who will clothe them ? Who will watch 
 over them ? ” These filial words so moved the tiger’s 
 heart that he loosed his hold, and allowed the son to 
 depart in peace. Ever since this spot has been 
 known by men as the place where the tiger was 
 worshipped. 
 
A Filial Son finds His Mother. 
 
 Chu Shen Chang was the son of a man who 
 had two wives. His mother was the second wife. 
 The first wife hated her, and caused his father 
 to put her away. Chu was about seven years old at 
 the time, and for fifty long years the mother and son 
 did not look upon each other. During these many 
 years he arrived at high rank. In the midst of all 
 his honor, his filial heart longed for his mother. In 
 the time of Shen Tsung he resigned his office, 
 and started for Shan Hsi in search of his venerable 
 mother. 
 
 As he was about to leave, he called his family 
 together, and took an oath in their presence that he 
 would not return until he saw his mother’s face. In 
 this spirit he set out in the search. 
 
 When he arrived at Tung Chou, he found her, an 
 old lady, seventy years of age. 
 
 Great was the rejoicing of the mother and her 
 filial son. 
 
Filial Piety Rewarded. 
 
 I.\ the Han dynasty there lived a man named 
 Kuang Hsiang, who was also called Wen Chiang. 
 When he was only nine years old his mother died, 
 and ever after he was constantly longing for her. 
 All the neighbors praised his filial remembrance of 
 his mother. 
 
 Although he mourned his mother, he was not for- 
 getful of his father, but for him performed the 
 hardest labor and served him with the loftiest piety. 
 In little things as well as great ones he was always 
 faithful. In the summer, when the weather was very 
 warm, he fanned his father’s pillow and bedding until 
 they were cool and salubrious. 
 
 In the winter, when it was very cold, it was his 
 custom to retire long before his father, and from the 
 warmth of his own body supply a delicious heat to 
 his father’s bed. The official of the place heard of 
 this wonderful child, and told the emperor of his 
 filial conduct, and his Majesty rewarded him accord- 
 ing to his merits. 
 
Filial Tears move Heaven and Earth. 
 
 In a certain dynasty there lived a man named 
 Meng Tsung who was also called Kung Wu. 
 While he was yet a child his father died. One day 
 his aged mother was taken very ill. In her illness 
 she longed for bamboo soup. It was impossible, at 
 that time, to procure the tender stalks of which the 
 soup is made, for it was winter, and the bamboo was 
 old and tough, and unsuitable for use. This filial son 
 repaired to the bamboo forests, and embracing the 
 dry stalks wept put his sorrow that he was not able 
 to gratify the desire of his aged mother. His filial 
 tears moved heaven and earth. In a short time the 
 earth opened and the tender bamboo shot forth its 
 graceful stalks. With joy Meng Tsung seized them 
 .in his filial hands, and hastened home to his mother 
 and made for her the soup for which she longed. As 
 she finished eating the delicious soup which her filial 
 son had furnished her, with what joyous emotions 
 must his heart have thrilled as he saw that his revered 
 parent had entirely recovered from her illness 
 

Ice formed by the Filial Son. 
 
 In the early Sung dynasty lived a filial son whose 
 mother was ill. Many physicians were called in 
 to investigate her sickness and administer to her, 
 but all were of no avail, for she could not be induced 
 to swallow their medicines. “ Ah ! ” said she, “ if I 
 were only able to obtain ice I should speedily 
 recover from my illness ! ” Alas ! it was hot 
 weather, and the son sought in vain for ice. On a 
 certain day, as he wept and mourned that he could 
 not obtain the ice for which his mother longed, sud- 
 denly he heard a noise as of cracking in the earth. 
 He wiped away his tears, and looked around for the 
 cause of the noise, — and behold ! there was the ice 
 his filial heart so coveted for his sick parent. He 
 seized the ice, and hastened home to his mother and 
 presented it to her with great joy. 
 
 She partook of the ice and immediately recovered 
 from her illness. 
 
Frolics of a Filial Son. 
 
 In the Chou dynasty there lived, in the kingdom 
 of Chu, a venerable man called Lao Lai Tzu. He 
 showed forth his filial piety in the great pains he 
 took to provide his aged parents with every delicate 
 dish they could crave. 
 
 Although he was seventy years old, he stoutly 
 affirmed that he was not yet old, and he still 
 dressed himself in the gay garments of a child. 
 
 He danced and frolicked like a small boy to amuse 
 his parents, and cause them to forget their many 
 years in the thought that they had so youthful a son. 
 When he brought water into the room he purposely 
 stumbled and fell, causing his father and mother to 
 laugh and forget the infirmities of old age. 
 
 Of the idiot and child he learns to dance and to play, 
 Spring breezes move his garments so youthful and so gay 
 The parents vievv' with joy the frolics of their child, 
 
 With joy and with mirth their aged hearts are filled. 
 
A Filial Son takes Oranges. 
 
 In the Han dynasty lived a boy named Lu Chi, 
 also called Kung Chi. When he was only six 
 years of age he went to visit and pay his respects to 
 an official named Yuan Shu, living in Chiu Chiang. 
 The mandarin treated his small guest with great 
 kindness, and brought forth oranges for him to eat. 
 The boy embraced the opportunity to conceal two of 
 the oranges in the long sleeves of his garment. 
 
 As he was about to pay his respects to his kind 
 host on taking his departure, he made the prostrations, 
 and alas ! the oranges rolled down from his sleeves. 
 The mandarin was justly indignant, and exclaimed in 
 anger; “You, my respected little man! You come 
 here as my guest, and why do you steal my 
 oranges ? ” Lu Chi humbly knelt and said : “ This 
 fruit is just what my mother loves to eat ; knowing 
 this, my heart j^rompted me to take it to her.” 
 
 Yuan Shu forgave the child, and was moved with 
 astonishment and admiration at this example of filial 
 piety in one so young. 
 
Vain Sighs for Filial Burdens. 
 
 Ix the Chou dynasty lived Chung Yu, also called 
 Tzu Lu. He was a disciple of Confucius. His 
 family was so poor that he often ate herbs and coarse 
 pulse. It was difficult to obtain rice in the region 
 in which he lived, and in order that his father and 
 mother might have suitable food, he often went more 
 than a hundred li to procure rice for them, bringing 
 it home on his back. 
 
 After their death he went south, to the kingdom 
 of Chu, where he was put in command of a hundred 
 companies of chariots. There he acquired great 
 wealth, storing up tens of thousands of measures of 
 rice. He reclined upon luxurious cushions, and his 
 table was spread with many costly dishes. In the 
 midst of all this wealth and magnificence, his heart 
 often turned towards the old days of filial service, 
 and he sighed and said, “ Alas ! though I now wish 
 to eat herbs and coarse pulse, and bear rice to my 
 father and mother, it cannot be. I cannot now have 
 the privilege.” 
 

A Filial Son divorces his Wife. 
 
 In the Han dynasty lived a man named Ting Lan. 
 His father and mother died when he was very young, 
 and so he lost the privilege of serving them. As he 
 got older he thought upon all the anxiety and labor 
 he had caused them when he was small, and said, 
 “ Alas ! my parents have never received any recom- 
 pense.” Then he canned wooden images of his par- 
 ents, and served them with love and reverential 
 fear, just as though they had been alive. 
 
 His wife, however, after some time gradually 
 ceased in her reverential attentions, and one day she 
 derisively pricked their fingers with a bodkin. Im- 
 mediately blood issued forth, and seeing the son 
 coming, the images wept. 
 
 Sing Lan inquired diligently into the cause of the 
 flowing blood and falling tears, and the wife was un- 
 able to conceal it. ' 
 
 Having ascertained the reason, he immediately 
 divorced the wife who had dared treat the images of 
 his honored parents with such irreverence. 
 
The Filial Heart Aches. 
 
 In the Chou dynasty lived Tseng Shen, also called 
 Tzu Yu. He was a disciple of Confucius, and in 
 his faithful service of his mother, he furnished to 
 the world an illustrious example of filial piety. The 
 family was poor, and Shen often went to the 
 mountains to gather firewood. 
 
 One day while he was gone, an une.xpected guest 
 suddenly arrived at the house. The mother was 
 unable to entertain her guest as she wished, and 
 longed for the return of her son, but he came not, 
 and so she bit her finger. 
 
 Far away on the mountains the son felt a strange 
 pain in his filial heart, and taking his firewood upon 
 his back, he returned home. 
 
 When he reached the house, he asked why he had 
 such a pain in his heart. 
 
 The mother replied : “ An unexpected guest ar- 
 rived, and I needed your help. Knowdng you were 
 bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh, and would 
 feel my pain, I bit my finger to let you know you 
 were wanted at home.” 
 
Heaven mves Gold to the Filial Son. 
 
 o 
 
 Tn the Han dynasty lived a man named Kuo 
 Chu, who was also called Wen Chu. 
 
 His family was so poor that his mother often de- 
 prived herself of food, in order that his little son, 
 three years of age, might have necessary nourish- 
 ment. 
 
 One day Kuo Chu said to his wife, “ We are so 
 poor and destitute that I am unable to support our 
 mother in a proper way. She divides with the child 
 the food that should be hers. Shall we not bury our 
 son ? We may obtain another son, but where shall 
 we obtain another mother ? ” 
 
 The wife dared not object to the proposal, and Kuo 
 Chu proceeded to dig a grave for the burial of his 
 son. When the hole was about three cubits deep, 
 he suddenly saw yellow gold, a whole kettle full, 
 upon which he read the following inscription : 
 “ Heaven gives yellow gold to Kuo Chu. Officials 
 shall not snatch it away.' common people shall not 
 take it from him.” 
 
A Filial Son laments his Mother’s Feebleness. 
 
 In the Han dynasty there lived a boy named Wei 
 Po Yu. He was of a very filial disposition, and 
 served his parents well. One day, for some trivial 
 offence, his mother beat him, and he cried exceed- 
 ingly. “ Why do you weep so bitterly } ” said his 
 mother. “ Formerly, when I chastised you, you did 
 not cry thus. Why is it that you weep so exceed- 
 ingly to-day.^ What is the reason.^” “Ah!” said 
 Po Yu, “in those days, when you beat me, it caused 
 my body pain, and I knew you were well and strong. 
 Now, as you chastise me, the strokes cause no pain, 
 and I see that you have not strength to inflict heavy 
 blows. I weep, not from the pain of the punishment 
 you inflict, but from the fact that your strength is 
 growing less, and that my mother is getting weak 
 and feeble.” 
 
Filial Sacrifice to Mosquitoes. 
 
 In the Chin dynasty lived a boy named Wu Ming, 
 who at eight years of age furnished a wonderful 
 example of filial piety. 
 
 His parents were poor ; indeed, such was their 
 poverty that they were unable to .provide themselves 
 with mosquito netting, and so found themselves 
 e.xposed to the cruel assaults of those ferocious little 
 animals. The filial heart of the son would not 
 allow him to look with complacency upon the rest- 
 less, sleepless condition of his revered parents, and 
 so every summer’s night he retired early, long be- 
 fore his father and mother, and allowed the mos- 
 quitoes to take a full meal of his tender flesh and 
 pure blood. Although they were very many, he 
 would not drive them away, lest, their hunger being 
 unsatisfied, they go from him to disturb the rest of 
 those he loved better than he loved himself. 
 
 Truly he excelled all others in filial piety and the 
 love he cherished for his parents. 
 
Ice melted by the Filial Son. 
 
 In the Chin dynasty there lived a man named 
 Wang Hsiang, also called Hsiu Cheng. While he 
 was yet 'young his own mother died. His father 
 married again a woman of the Chu family. She was 
 by no means a tender, loving mother, but was con- 
 stantly telling the father in secret that Wang 
 Hsiang was not a good boy, and gradually the father 
 lost his affection for his son. Notwithstanding all 
 this, the son still exercised filial piety in the treat- 
 ment of his step-mother. On a certain day she de- 
 sired to eat fresh fish, but it was the time of frozen 
 waters ; so this filial son took off his clothes, and lay 
 on the ice, hoping that the warmth of his body would 
 melt it. 
 
 Suddenly the ice opened, and two fresh fish 
 leaped forth, and he took them to his mother. 
 Among people there are often step-mothers, but 
 under the heavens there has never been another 
 Wang Hsiang. To this day upon the waters of the 
 river are seen the prints in the ice ! 
 
List of Pub 
 
 TONS. 
 
 In Boats, Carts, Homes ^ Hearts in China. 
 
 Famous Filials, 
 
 Or, Renowned Boys of China. Illustrated. 
 
 Peeps at Real Girls in China. 
 
 Translated from Journals and Letters of Clara and Sarah Wang. 
 
 Card Photographs 
 
 Peking School of the W. F. M. S., 
 
 AND 
 
 The Peking Mission Cart and Driver. 
 
 PRICE OF BOOKS and PHOTOGRAPHS 
 
 lO cents each, 3 for 25 cents, 20 for 9f-00 
 
 PLL TRY BAND CARDS, lo cts. per doz. 
 
 These cards have been found very helpful in the work among 
 young people and children. The “I’ll Try Band” already numbers 
 over four thousand, and should number ten thousand liefore the year 
 closes. 
 
 Any of the above sent by mail on receipt of price. Small sums 
 may be remitted in postage stamps. 
 
 CLARA M. CUSHMAN, 
 
 586 Fifth St., So. Boston, Mass.