Krepostna snaha

Besedilo

Krepostna snaha

The wife of Yue Yangzi of Henan was a woman whose family name is unknown. She worked diligently to support her mother-in-law. Once, a chicken from another household strayed into their garden, and her mother-in-law stole it, killed it, and cooked it for a meal. Faced with the chicken, the wife would not eat, but wept. Puzzled, her mother-in-law asked why. The wife replied, “I grieve that we are so poor that meat belonging to another household has found its way to our table.” Her mother-in-law then threw it away. Later, a robber who wished to violate the wife first seized her mother-in-law as a hostage. Hearing the commotion, the wife came out carrying a knife. The robber said, “Put down your knife. If you submit to me, you can both remain unharmed; if you refuse, I will kill your mother-in-law.” The wife looked up to heaven and sighed, then cut her own throat and died. The robber did not kill her mother-in-law. When the governor heard what had happened, he had the robber caught and executed, bestowed fine silk in the wife’s honor, and had her buried with due ceremony.