| Annals of the Five...: |
When Shun was twenty years old he was noted for his filial piety, and when he was thirty the Emperor Yao asked if he was fit to reign. The presidents united in bringing Shun of Yu forward as an able man, so Yao gave him his two daughters in marriage in order to observe his conduct at home, and bade his nine sons put him in charge of a post so as to note his behaviour abroad. Shun lived within the bend of the Kuei river, and was especially careful. Yao's two daughters did not dare, on account of their rank, to be proud, but waited on Shun's relations, and were constant in their wifely duties, while Yao's nine sons became more and more generous. When Shun ploughed on Li mountain, the inhabitants yielded the boundaries; when he fished in Thunder lake, the men on the lake yielded to him the best place; and when he made pots on the bank of the river, his vessels had no holes or flaws in them. If he dwelt in a place for a year he formed an assemblage, in two years it became a town, and in three a metropolis. Yao gave Shun clothes made of fine grass-cloth, and a lute, and built him a granary and shed for his oxen and sheep. Gusou again tried to kill Shun by making him go up and plaster the roof of the granary, while he set fire to it from below, but Shun, protecting himself from the fire with a couple of bamboo hats, came down and escaped with his life. Gusou after this told Shun to dig a well, which he did, making a secret tunnel at the side to get out at. When Shun had gone right in, Gusou and Xiang filled up the well with earth, but Shun came out by the secret passage. Gusou and Xiang rejoiced, thinking that Shun was dead, and Xiang said, 'The plot was mine, but I will go shares with my father and mother; I will take Shun's wives, Yao's two daughters, and the lute as my share, while the oxen, sheep, granary and shed shall belong to my parents.' He remained, however, in Shun's house playing on the lute, and when Shun went thither Xiang, startled and not well-pleased to see him, said, 'I was just thinking of you, and getting very anxious.' 'Quite so,' said Shun, 'and so you possessed yourself of all these things.' Shun again served Gusou, loved his brother, and was still more careful in his conduct. Yao thereupon tested Shun as to the five cardinal rules, and the various officers were under control. |
