法苑珠林 64.25

64.25

At the end of the Kaihuang era of the Sui, there was a man from Daizhou surnamed Wang who served as a Cavalry General (piaoji jiangjun) and was garrisoned in Puzhou. By nature he was fond of hunting and killed countless creatures. He had five sons and no daughters. Later, a daughter was born to him who was exquisite and beautiful; everyone who saw her marveled at her and loved her. Her parents cherished her dearly, unlike any ordinary person. After returning to his home village, the villagers and kin made clothes for her and joined together in cherishing and raising her. When the girl was seven years old, one morning she suddenly went missing, and there was nowhere to search for her. Suspecting that the neighbors had hidden her in jest, they asked around, but did not find her. Her elder brothers rode horses far away in search of her and only then caught sight of her, more than thirty li from home. The horses could not keep up with her in pursuit; only when the brothers and several dozen horsemen surrounded her together did they finally catch her. The sounds coming from her mouth resembled the cry of a hare. Thorns gathered on her feet filled double handfuls. After a month or so of not eating, she died. The parents were in such grief and pain that they could not restrain themselves. This was truly caused by the father's hunting, whose calamity reached and was suffered by the daughter. The whole family took up the fasts and pure precepts, unceasingly refining their practice. Cai Xuanming, Assistant of the Court of Judicature and Revision (Dali si cheng), had once been a Judicial Administrator (facao) of the Dai Prefecture commandery, and related this to [Tang] Lin.