法苑珠林 49.48

49.48

漢書載。東海孝婦養姑甚謹。姑曰。婦養我勤苦。我已老。何惜餘年久累年少。遂自縊死。其女告官云。婦殺我母。官收繫之。拷掠治毒。孝婦不堪楚毒。自謀伏之。時于公為獄吏。曰此婦養姑十餘年。以孝聞徹。必不殺也。太守不聽。于公爭不得理。抱其獄辭哭於府而去。自後郡中枯旱三年後太守至。思求其所咎。于公曰。孝婦不當死。前太守枉殺之。咎當在此。太守即時身祭孝婦之墓。未返而大雨焉。長老傳云。孝婦名用青。青將死。車載十丈竹竿以懸五幡。立誓於眾曰。青若有罪願殺血當順下。青若枉死血當逆流。既行刑已其血青黃。緣幡竹而上極標。又緣幡而下云爾。

The Hanshu records: In Donghai there was a filial daughter-in-law who served her mother-in-law with great care. The mother-in-law said, "My daughter-in-law serves me with such toilsome hardship! I am already old; why begrudge my remaining years and long burden the young?" She thereupon hanged herself and died. Her daughter reported this to the authorities, saying, "The daughter-in-law killed my mother." The authorities arrested and imprisoned her, torturing and mistreating her with venomous cruelty. The filial daughter-in-law could not endure the excruciating pain and confessed falsely against herself. At that time, Master Yu was a prison clerk. He said, "This woman has served her mother-in-law for over ten years, renowned far and wide for her filial piety. She certainly did not commit murder." The grand administrator would not listen. Master Yu contended for justice but failed; clasping the dossier of the case, he wept at the commandery headquarters and departed. Thereafter, there was severe drought in the commandery for three years. When a subsequent grand administrator arrived, he sought to find where the blame lay. Master Yu said, "The filial daughter-in-law should not have died; the former grand administrator wrongly executed her. The blame must lie here." The grand administrator immediately went in person to make offerings at the filial daughter-in-law's grave. Before he had even returned, heavy rain fell. An old tradition says: The filial daughter-in-law was named Yongqing. When Qing was about to die, a cart carried a bamboo pole one hundred feet tall on which five banners were hung. She swore an oath before the assembly, saying, "If Qing is guilty, when I am executed, may my blood flow downward. If Qing dies unjustly, may my blood flow upward!" Once the execution was carried out, her blood turned cyan and yellow, rose along the banner bamboo pole all the way to the top, and then flowed down along the banners, so it is said.