Zdravnik Hua Tuo in kača v dekletovem kolenu

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Zdravnik Hua Tuo in kača v dekletovem kolenu

Hua Tuo of Pei, whose courtesy name was Yuanhua, was also known as Fu. Liu Xun of Langya, the governor of Henei, had a daughter nearly twenty years old who suffered from a sore on her left knee. It itched but did not hurt. Whenever it healed, it would break out again a few dozen days later, and this had continued for seven or eight years. Liu Xun invited Hua Tuo to examine her. Hua Tuo said, “This is easily cured.” He called for rice chaff, a yellow dog, and two fine horses. A rope was tied around the dog’s neck, and a rider was ordered to gallop ahead, pulling the dog along. Whenever one horse was exhausted, the rider changed to the other. After they had covered more than thirty li, the dog could go no farther, so men on foot were made to drag it onward. When they had covered nearly fifty li in all, Hua Tuo gave the young woman a medicine to drink. She immediately fell into a deep sleep, unaware of anyone around her. He then took a large knife and cut open the dog’s belly just in front of its hind legs. He held the opening toward the sore, two or three cun away. After a short while, something like a snake emerged from the sore. He at once drove an iron spike crosswise through its head. The snake writhed beneath the skin for a long time, then finally stopped moving. He drew it out; it was about three feet long and had all the features of a snake, except that its eyes had no pupils and its scales pointed backward. He applied ointment and medicinal powder to the sore, and it healed in seven days.