Trije možje in ena žena

Besedilo

Trije možje in ena žena

During the reign of Emperor Xuan, in the region between Yan and Mount Dai, three men took a single woman as their common wife, and she bore four sons. When they came to divide the wife and children among themselves, they could find no equitable way to do so, and the dispute ended in court. Fan Yanshou, the commandant of justice, ruled: “This is not human conduct. They should be treated like birds and beasts, whose young follow the mother, not the father.” He requested that the three men be put to death and the children returned to their mother. Emperor Xuan sighed in admiration and said: “Why must every judgment rest on ancient precedent? A ruling like this may well be said to accord with reason and satisfy human feeling.” Yanshou understood how to apply punishments to human affairs, but he did not understand how to interpret such human aberrations as portents of what was to come.