East Asia Student

Random Stuff Related to East Asia

Classical Chinese

Soushenji No. 283 translation: Guo Ju Buries his Son and Obtains Gold

搜神記：郭巨埋兒得金 （二八三）

Gold ingotsThis is a translation and annotation of text No. 283 in 搜神記 (Soushenji – ‘In Search of the Supernatural’), a collection of strange happenings compiled by 干寶 (Gan Bao) in the 4th century C.E.

In order to be useful to people studying the text, this translation aims to be literal and close to the original.

郭巨埋兒得金 [_Guo_] [_Ju_] [bury] [son] [get] [gold] Guo Ju Buries his Son and Obtains Gold

郭巨， [_Guo_] [_Ju_] Guo Ju,

隆慮人也， [_Long_] [_Lü_] [person] [it is so] of Long Lü,

一云河內溫人。 [one] [say] [_He_] [_Nei_] [_Wen_] [person], also said to be of Wen in He Nei,

兄弟三人， [brother] [brother] [three] [person] was one of three brothers,

早喪父。 [early] [lose] [father] who lost their father when young.

禮畢， [ceremony] [finish] When the funeral was finished,

二弟求分。 [two] [brother] [seek] [share] two of the brothers sought their share.

以錢二千萬， [take] [money] [two] [thousand] [ten thousand] Taking the twenty million in money,

二弟各取千萬， [two] [brother] [each] [take] [thousand] [ten thousand] two of the brothers each took ten million,

巨獨與母居客舍， [_Ju_] [independently] [with] [mother] [reside] [guest] [residence] and Ju lived independently with his mother in a guest house,

夫婦傭賃以給供養。 [husband] [wife] [hire] [rent] [so as to] [give] [supply] [support] and he and his wife hired themselves out as labourers in order to support his mother.

居有頃， [live] [have] [short while] After they had lived there a short while,

妻產男。 [wife] [give birth] [male] his wife gave birth to a son.

巨念兒妨事親，一也； [huge] [think] [son] [hinder] [serve] [parent]，[one] [it is so] He worried immensely that a son would hinder him in serving his mother, firstly;

老人得食， [old] [person] [get] [food] and when old people get food,

喜分兒孫， [like] [share] [son] [grandson] they like to share it with their children and grandchildren,

減饌，二也。 [reduce] [food]，[two] [it is so] reducing their own food, secondly.

乃於野鑿地， [thus] [in] [field] [dig] [earth] So, he dug into the earth in a field,

欲埋兒， [want] [bury] [son] intending to bury his son,

得石蓋， [get] [stone] [lid] but found a stone lid,

下有黃金一釜， [under] [have] [yellow] [gold] [one] [ingot] and underneath there was one gold ingot,

中有丹書，曰： [in] [have] [red] [letters]，[say] upon which was red writing that said:

「孝子郭巨， 「[filial] [son] [_Guo_] [_Ju_] “To the filial son Guo Ju:

黃金一釜， [yellow] [gold] [one] [ingot] one gold ingot,

以用賜汝。」 [take] [use] [bestow] [you]」 is bestowed on you.”

於是名振天下。 [at] [this] [name] [resonate] [heaven] [under] Because of this, his name was known across the empire.

If you notice an error or disagree with the translation, please comment below to make this a better resource.__


Contact me: mhg@eastasiastudent.net

Tags