Zhou Chu Kills Three Terrors 周处除三害

The famous story of Zhou comes from the ‘A New Account of Tales of the World’ (Shi Shuo Xin Yu).

When he was a young man, Zhou Chu (240-299) was tough and fond of fighting. Residents of Yi Xing, his home town, both feared and hated him.

At that time there was in the district a terrible monster known as jiao (a kind of crocodile), that lived in the river, and a man-eating tiger that lived in the mountains. Together with Zhou Chu, they were known as the ‘three terrors’ plaguing the people. And Zhou Chu was considered to be the worst.

At one time somebody persuaded Zhou Chu to go and kill the other two monsters, in the hope that he might be killed in the struggle. He agreed to the request. After slaughtering the tiger in the mountains, he jumped into the river and launched an attack on the jiao. The jiao sometimes rose to the surface and sometime swam in the depth of the river, while Zhou Chu followed it for tens of miles all along. Three days and nights had passed, the residents decided that Zhou must have already been eaten by the jiao, and they had a celebration.

At this time, Zhou Chu succeeded in killing the jiao and re-emerged from the river. Knowing that the people were celebrating, he at last realised how deeply hated he had become. So he decided to start a new life, and went off in search of two scholars, known as the Lu brothers, for advice.

Lu Ji (261-301) was out at that time, but his younger brother, Lu Yun (262-303), was at home. Zhou Chu recounted the recent events ti him and said, ‘I wish to correct my behaviour, but I am no longer young, and change will not come easy.’

Lu Yun replied, ‘Confucius once said that if you found out the truth in the morning but died the same evening, you would feel no regret. You are still young and have a life of promise ahead of you. What you should feat is having no goal in your life. If you already bhave one, why worry that you will never come to fame?’

From then on Zhou Chu mad efforts to turn over a new leaf, and later was applauded as a loyal official and a loving son.’

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‘周处除三害’的故事记载于《世说新语》。

周处年少时，凶强侠气，为乡里所患。

又义兴水中有蛟，山中有邅迹虎，并皆暴犯百姓，义兴人谓为‘三横’，而处尤剧。

或说处杀虎斩蛟，实冀三横唯余其一。处即刺杀虎，又入水击蛟，蛟或浮或没，行数十里，处与之俱，经三日三夜，乡里皆谓已死，更相庆。

竟杀蛟而出。闻里人相庆，始知为人情所患，有自改意。

乃自吴寻二陆，平原不在，正见清河，具以情告，并云：‘欲自修改而年已蹉跎，终无所成。’

清河曰：‘古人贵朝闻夕死，况君前途尚可。且人患志之不立，亦何忧令名不彰邪？’

处遂改励，终为忠臣孝子。