Zvesti pes reši gospodarja pred ognjem

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Zvesti pes reši gospodarja pred ognjem

In the time of Sun Quan, there lived a man named Li Xinchun, a native of Jinan in Xiangyang. He kept a dog called Black Dragon, whom he loved dearly. Wherever he went, the dog was at his side, and at every meal he shared his food with it. One day, Xinchun went drinking outside the city and became so drunk that he could not make it home, but lay down in the grass. Just then, the governor, Zheng Xia, came out hunting. Seeing how thickly the grass grew in the fields, he ordered his men to set it alight. Xinchun lay directly in the path of the wind-driven flames. When the dog saw the fire approaching, it tugged at his clothes with its mouth, but he did not stir. There was a stream some thirty to fifty paces from where he lay. The dog ran to it, plunged into the water, then returned soaking wet and circled his resting place, shaking water from its body. In this way it saved its master from disaster. But carrying the water back and forth exhausted the dog, and it died beside him. Before long, Xinchun awoke. Finding the dog dead, its coat wet all over, he was greatly puzzled. Then he saw the traces of the fire and, understanding what had happened, wept bitterly. Word of the matter reached the governor, who was deeply moved. “A dog repays kindness more faithfully than a human being,” he said. “If a person knows no gratitude, how can he compare with a dog?” He immediately ordered inner and outer coffins, burial garments, and a shroud to be prepared, and had the dog buried. To this day, the Tomb of the Faithful Dog stands in Jinan, its mound more than ten zhang high.