The Story of Silkworms

Records by Yijian： A New Edition

Lu Chunxiang

Guangdong People’s Publishing House

September 2021

68.00 （CNY）

Lu Chunxiang

Lu Chunxiang， pen name of Lu Buyi， among many others， is a top-tier writer who is also the vice president of The Chinese Institute of Prose， the president of the Zhejiang Institute of Prose， and a visiting professor at the Communication University of Zhejiang. His main works include collections of essays and prose such as Sick Alphabets， Word Brocade， Music， Notes in Notes， etc.

This book provides a comprehensive and in-depth interpretation of Hong Mai’s classic， Records by Yijian， from the perspective of dynastic history. Following the principles of usefulness and entertainment， the author has selected more than one hundred stories covering all aspects of Song Dynasty history， which constitute a visual narration of the history of the life， customs， and spirit of the people during the 300 years of the Northern and Southern Song dynasties. The selection of material depends primarily on the potential for extending the story’s subject. The chosen story should be able to apply to the world of today and should contain a certain level of suspense---even if it comes in the form of a metaphor or just a small detail.

In the eighth year of Qiandao （1172 CE）， the price of mulberry leaves suddenly soared in Xinzhou （modern-day Shangrao， Jiangxi Province）， with 500 grams of the leaves costing about 100 pennies. Zhang Liuweng， a man from Shaxi town， owned a plot of mulberry which could yield about 500 kilograms of mulberry leaves. While his silkworms were still dormant， an idea to make a fortune suddenly occurred to him， and thus he said to his wife and daughter-in-law， “This small amount of mulberry leaves we have is nowhere near enough to raise all the silkworms we have. We probably only have enough for half of the worms. And with the price of mulberry leaves being so high now， we most certainly cannot afford to buy the leaves that we lack. Thus， if our mulberry leaves don’t ripen in time， or we don’t get to buy leaves from outside， our silkworms would die. So， why don’t we just throw all these silkworm trays into the river and sell our mulberry leaves instead？ That way， we’ll get a significant amount of income instantly without having to go through the trouble of raising silkworms！” As Zhang had a fiery temper， his wife didn’t dare to disagree and could only discuss this in private with her daughter-in-law. Considering that if they had thrown all their silkworms into the river， they wouldn’t have had enough silkworm eggs for the next year， eventually， they decided to keep two silkworm trays hidden under the daughter-in-law’s bed.

At midnight that day， a thief came to their farm to steal their mulberry leaves. Zhang， who was keeping watch， got so angry at this that he stabbed forward with his spear， struck the intruder’s abdomen and killed him. Zhang then went home and said to his wife， “I just stabbed a thief to death in the mulberry plot just now. He’s a thief. I’ve done nothing wrong killing him.” Hearing this， his wife got so shocked that she started shaking， believing that the “thief” her husband stabbed was her son. After rushing over to the plot and finding out that it was indeed her son， she took off her skirt and hanged herself with it on the tree. Seeing that his wife had not returned home after a long time， Zhang panicked， ran back to the plot， and realized that he had killed his own son and that his wife had committed suicide. Feeling that he could no longer continue living， he hanged himself as well. At this point， the daughter-in-law left the Zhang residence with a candle in search of her husband. Seeing the three bodies， she screamed and attracted the attention of the neighbors. Soon， the chief and the neighbors had gathered around. Just as the chief was about to apprehend the daughter-in-law and hand her over to the local justice department， she ran out and hanged herself as well. In just a single night， the entire Zhang family had died.

Even I sighed at this. How did this family all end up dead？ Silkworms are near gods in the eyes of mulberry farmers. Spring silkworms spin silk at no end till their death. How could this family treat them so cruelly after they had contributed their lives to mankind？

In order to prove the correctness of his point of view and to give the world a little more warning， Hong Mai added a copy of another story about silkworms in the introduction to the chapter titled “The King’s Silkworm”， which is the eighth chapter of volume one of Yijian Zhi， specifically trying to convey the message that a good deed comes back to help you， while a bad deed comes back to haunt you. The story is taken from Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang by Duan Chengshi， a well-known writer during the Tang Dynasty.

Pang Si， a man from the Kingdom of Silla， asked for some silkworm eggs from his younger brother. His younger brother cooked the eggs before giving them to him without his knowledge. When the eggs finally hatched， there was only one silkworm， which started growing an inch a day. After growing for tens of days， the silkworm was as huge as a cow and ate a few trees worth of mulberry leaves every day. At this point， Pang’s younger brother found an opportunity and killed the silkworm. Unexpectedly after its death， all the ordinary silk moths within a radius of a few kilometers flew over to Pang’s house and started producing silk altogether. There was so much silk being produced that even with all the help from his neighbors that he could get， Pang couldn’t finish harvesting all the silk.

Hong Mai thought that this story recorded by Duan Chengshi was absolutely ridiculous， whereas he himself had a version that was much more believable.

In the village of Cai， which was located in the North of Fuli County， Suzhou （modern-day Yongqiao District， Suzhou， Anhui Province）， there lived a farmer called Wang Youwen， and he lived with his younger brother Wang Youliang. Youwen married the daughter of a local man， Qin Biao. His wife Qin was very fierce and regularly spoke badly about Youliang in front of her husband. This caused the brothers to split their assets and live separately， with them not seeing each other sometimes for as long as a year. One day， Youliang went to ask for some silkworm eggs from his elder brother， whose wife then grilled the eggs before handing them over. Youliang’s wife， following the normal procedures， washed the eggs with warm water and waited for them to hatch. Yet only one silkworm was successfully hatched， which then started growing bigger and bigger till it weighed almost 50 kilograms. Seeing this， Youwen’s wife got both suspicious and jealous. So， one day， when Youliang and his wife left their house for the village to the East， leaving only their youngest daughter to watch over their house， she and her husband went over. After coaxing the little girl into the kitchen， she went straight to the silkworm room. The worm was lying right under the window， breathing as heavily as a cow while eating mulberry leaves noisily. Youwen’s wife then started whacking it with a large stick， only for it to spit out a few kilograms of silk each time it got whacked. This frightened her so much that she quickly ran back home with her husband. After reaching home， she fell ill and died after just a month. The silkworm， on the other hand， developed a cocoon that looked like a large white jar， ultimately yielding exactly 50 kilograms of silk.

Hong Mai didn’t actually put in the full version of Duan Chengshi’s story about Pang Si. That story is in fact very long. Pang Si’s younger brother gave not only silkworm eggs but also grain seeds. And just like how only one silkworm hatched from all the eggs， only one plant grew from all the seeds （as the seeds had also been cooked by Pang’s brother）. However， Pang Si did not lose faith and continued to look after the lonely plant day after day. One day， a bird suddenly flew by， pulled up the wheat plant， and flew off. Pang Si chased after it crazily all day till night， until the bird finally flew into a crack in the rocks and disappeared. Seeing the darkness around， Pang Si realized that he was lost. After a while， as the moon rose， Pang Si was still feeling sad， but suddenly， a group of kids in red appeared and started playing under the moonlight. One kid asked another， “What do you want？” The other replied， “I want wine.” And so the first kid took out a golden hammer， whacked it hard on the rocks， and suddenly all the tools for drinking wine as well as the wine itself appeared. Another kid requested all kinds of food， and with more whacks， cakes， bread， soup， and meat all appeared. After eating and drinking， the kids left， leaving the golden hammer behind in a crack in the rocks. Pang Si then brought the hammer back home and became the richest man in the entire country. Unreconciled at this， Pang’s brother did just as his brother did. He grew a single wheat plant， waited for the bird to take it， and chased after the bird. Everything happened just like Pang Si had experienced. But in the end， he was caught by those mysterious children as the thief of the gold hammer， and those children made his nose as long as an elephant’s trunk. Remorseful and angry， he died soon after.

The story gets more and more peculiar， but the moral has not changed---always have a good heart. God sees clearly and sees it all.