The following story is found in the book ‘A Vast Collection of Records of Things and Events’, which is written by Chen Yuanjing of Song Dynasty.
A scholar of the Qin dynasty was fond of antiques that he would acquire them regardless of how much they cost.
One day, a man appeared at his gate, hauling a broken mat, and said, ‘In the past Duke Ai Gong of the state of Lu presented this mat to Confucius. This is the very mat slept on by the great sage.’ The scholar, greatly pleased by such a rare find, obtained it at the cost of a piece of fertile land he owned outside the outer city wall.
Later, another man appeared with an old walking stick. He was selling the old stick, and he said, ‘this is the walking stick used by King Tai of Zhou dynasty as he was on his way to Bin in order to escape the barbarian invaders from the north. By the way, this stick is several hundred years older than that mat of Confucius. What price can you offer?’ The scholar paid the man with all his family savings.
Thereafter, another man came to the house with a rotten wooden bowl and said, ‘neither your mat nor your stick can be called antiques by comparison with this treasure. It was made during the days of Tyrant Jie (the last King of Shang dynasty), much earlier than the Zhou dynasty.’ Considering this was a product of an even earlier era, he paid by transferring the title of his house to the man.
In order to obtain the three antiques now in his possession, he had given up his arable land, his home and exhausted his savings. Nothing remained for his subsistence. Nevertheless, he refused to think of trying to dispose of the three articles. Hence, draping the Duke Ai Gong’s mat on his shoulders, leaning on King Tai’s stick and using Tyrant Jie’s bowl as he went begging in the streets, he pleaded to the passers-by, ‘thank you for supporting my living. If you have coins made by Jiang Tai Gong (famous politician of Zhou dynasty), please spare me one.’
.
以下故事来自宋朝陳元靚所著《事林广记》。
秦朝有一士人，酷好古物，价虽贵必求之。
一日，有人携败席踵门告曰：‘昔鲁哀公命席以问孔子，此孔子所坐之席。’秦士大惬意，以为古，遂以附郭田易之。
逾时，又一人持古杖以售之，曰：‘此乃太王避狄太王(周文王的祖父)杖策去豳时所操之棰也，盖先孔子之席数百年，子何以偿我？’秦士倾家资与之。
既而又有人持朽一只，曰：‘席与杖皆未为古，此椀乃桀造，盖商又远于周。’秦士愈以为远，遂虚所居之宅而予之。
三器既得，而田资罄尽，无以衣食，然好古之心，终未忍舍三器，于是披哀公之席，把太王之杖，执桀所作之椀，行丐于市，曰：‘衣食父母，有太公九府钱，乞一文！’
No comments:
Post a Comment