IIIF Color HighRes
National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
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| IIIF Color HighRes |
| Innermost Asia : vol.2 |
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Citation Information
| Appendix I] | CHINESE INSCRIPTIONS AND RECORDS I037
irgt H A ti A0 M* ft—iRI,,„ 0O A= ~7R00 MO M01E0
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The Lady Tung 1, [wife] of [Fan Yen-]shih, a former official 2 .. .
This lady ... was styled [Chên-]ying, and was a native of Kao-ch`ang Hsien in Hsi-chou. When young, ... ; [in all her] conduct there was no [shortcoming 3], her forms of speech 4 were noised abroad. When she came amongst her [husband's] loin ', she made purity and brightness" her aim, [cherished 7] the virtues of respect and attentiveness, was ... hard-working and free from perversity—a noble lady 8 who gratified the wishes of her mother-in-law 9.
I This is the same lady that appears as jÇ Lady
Tung in the colophon numbered Ast. ix. 2. 053, so that
is probably a mistake of the transcriber. From the same source we are able to reconstruct the name of the husband
Fan Yen-shih, whose own memorial inscription
is No. XIl of this series, and the lady's religious ` style'
II X Chên-ying, which was assumed when she became a lay member of the Buddhist Church.
2 No reference is made in No. XII to his having held any official post.
3 Restoring the text so as to read -- .
'
ft: yen kuei is a curious expression which seems
the more suspicious because of the similar-sounding PI-
in
that follows.
6 These words so obviously referto her marriage that
I am driven to conjecture f `j instead of the more
familiar w N. In Odes, II. 4. iii, r, we have the lines
Kx trdi, (~ N, but there the speaker is
a wife who wishes to return to her own kith and kin. Strictly
speaking, (not â) tr"ifi should be used of marriage
see Odes, I. r. vi.
6 Predicated of the sun and moon in the I ching.
7 The missing word may be t : ` in her bosom '.
s Literally, ' a Chi or a Chiang''.. was the clan name
of the Yellow Emperor, derived from a river, which was after-
II
wards inherited by the House of Ai Chou. Similarly, was the clan name of the Emperor Shên Nung, also derived
from a river; it was inherited by the ruling house of rg
Ch`i. These were the two noblest surnames of ancient China. See the quotation from an ode,
~çnow lost, in Tso Chuan,
IX, § to : #1 0 , plç
Though your wife be a Chi or a Chiang, do not slight the
sons of toil.' Thus 0 V came to be used as a complimentary epithet for any great lady.
The present passage, however, is complicated by a
further allusion to jJ , Lieh nil chuan, ch. v, f. z7,
which throws light on the following words We read
there that the wife of one t. a Chiang Shill was most attentive to the wants of her mother-in-law, and used to rise at cock-crow in order to bring her fresh drinking-water from a river seven li distant. Once, however, she was prevented by stormy weather, and her husband sent her away in disgrace. She took lodging in a neighbour's house, and with the proceeds of her spinning purchased delicacies which she got her friend to convey regularly to her mother-in-law. At last the latter made inquiries, and discovered to her shame who the donor was, whereupon the wife was taken back. Shortly after, a spring of fresh water gushed forth near the house—heaven's recompense for such filial devotion.
9 , ° nourishing the will ', as opposed to nourishing
the body only: see Mencius, IV. T. xix. 3.
6R
M ?t.=. tE
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