FAITHFULNESS
Faithfulness is another of those things we admire, that are taught to
Chinese boys and girls too. Many are the stories told to make the
children honour faithful men and wish to be like them.
One of these tells of Luh Sin Fu, in the time of the Sung Dynasty.
This faithful servant of his country, after refusing to be bought over
by the Mongols who were then at war with China, was defeated in a
sea-fight near Canton. His ships were scattered, and seeing that the
hopes of the Sung rulers were lost, he took the baby heir of the throne
and jumping overboard perished with him in the waves.
Chinese children are often reminded to be faithful by the books
which they read at school: “Hold faithfulness and sincerity as first
principles.” “Daily I examine myself in regard to three things, whether
in doing business for others I may have been unfaithful, whether I may
have been insincere with my friends, whether I may not have laid to
heart the teachings of my master;” and such lessons are made clear to
their minds by the example of men and women praised for faithfulness in
every district of the land.
A legend is told in Chinchew city of a family which became famous in
the time of the Ming Emperors, through the faithfulness of one of its
ancestors. This man, a Mr So, kept a wine-shop in East Street, not
far from the magistrate’s Yamen. He was an honest citizen, who went
about his business in a quiet, steady way. Among his customers was a
middle-aged man, who used to go once a day to the shop to have his
earthenware bottle filled with wine.
One day this regular customer brought a bundle, which he asked Mr So
to keep for him, until he should call for it. Mr So willingly took the
bundle, promising to take good care of it. From that moment the man
came no more to Mr So’s shop. Days passed into months, months became
years, and the familiar customer with his brown bottle was forgotten.
The incident of the bundle had passed out of memory when one day an old
man entered the wine-shop and cast his eyes round the place.
“Are you Mr So?” he asked the owner.
“That is my unworthy name, venerable grand-uncle,” said Mr So. “What
may I do for you?”
“Please give me the bundle which I left with you some time ago,” said
the stranger.
“The bundle! I do not remember your giving me a bundle. When did you
leave it here?”
Mr So started when the stranger mentioned a date years before, and
turned to question his men, none of whom could remember the old man or
his bundle.
The stranger pressed Mr So to have the shop carefully searched, saying
that the package which he had left for safe keeping had some slips of
gold inside it, and it would be a terrible loss to him if they could
not find it.
“We know nothing about the bundle, or what was in it, venerable
grand-uncle, but if you left it here, you shall certainly have it back
again,” said Mr So.
After diligent search the bundle was found upon a shelf in the strong
room at the back of the shop.
The old man’s eyes glittered as he undid the fastenings of the bundle,
now black with dust and cobwebs. Carefully he turned over the things
inside it, laying them one by one upon the counter. There was a clatter
and fall of metal. “The gold is here safe enough,” said the stranger,
taking up the dull yellow slips with his thin fingers. “One, two,
three,” he numbered slowly, “four, five, six,” counting until the full
tale was reached. The old man put back the gold, and did up his bundle
in silence. Then he lifted his head.
“You are an honest man, Mr So,” said he. “You have indeed been faithful
in the trust which I committed to you so long ago.”
“What have I done?” answered Mr So. “The bundle has lain just as you
left it,” and with that he bowed low.
The old man waited. Then he spoke again.
“I have some skill in finding such spots as will bring good fortune to
the children of those who are buried in them,” said he. “You have kept
my gold faithfully. I wish to make you some return for your kindness,
and happily it is in my power to do so. Listen! there is a place
outside the East Gate of the city, so fortunate that if you were to buy
it and use it for your grave, your descendants afterwards would surely
prosper in the world.”
Mr So, who was no less superstitious than his neighbours, bought the
ground, and when he died was buried in the lucky spot. The family
prospered and in course of time one of his descendants became an
official, so high in favour with the Emperor Ban-lek, that he gave him
his sister to be his wife, and a ‘five-storied pavilion’ for her to
live in. Mr So’s heirs continued to prosper, and some of them still
live in the old home within the city. But we know that the family rose
in the world, not because of the grave, which the old man thought so
lucky, but through the blessing which follows upon doing what is right
and honest.
Much as the Chinese praise faithfulness, the old men shake their heads
and tell their children that people born in the time of the Emperor
Hien-fung were more honest than those born during these last forty
years, and those born earlier still, in the days of Tau-kwang, were
still more faithful. It is the usual story, “the old days were better
than the new,” but the very sense of failure makes the people, young
and old, more ready to welcome that Saviour, who alone can help men to
be faithful and upright and true and good.