Passing over the hills and wading through the streams, he carried his mother with much difficulty. It was during a year of famine, when all the inhabitants of the land were in confusion from the scarcity of food, and engagements were frequent between the soldiers and the bandits, and signal fires were lighted on the high hills. Chiang was fearful lest the robbers should meet him on the road and plunder him; and they did seize him, regardless of his cries and tears, and were about to rob him; but when they knew of his filial piety and affection for his mother, they permitted him to proceed. While journeying, he was too poor to procure any food beyond the bare necessaries of life; and because he could not provide comforts and delicacies for his mother, he was grieved as if it had been his fault. He went and hired himself for labour; with the greatest diligence he adhered to his purpose to maintain his mother; and soon the stranger obtained an abundance of food and clothing. This success caused his mother to rejoice, and they were both delighted, she forgetting her former hardships in the joy that filled her breast. No. X _He fanned the Pillow and warmed the Bedclothes_ In the Han dynasty lived Huang Hsiang, who when only nine years old lost his mother, whom he loved so ardently and remembered so well that all the villagers praised his filial duty. He was employed in the severest toil, and served his father with entire obedience. In summer, when the weather was warm, he fanned and cooled his father’s pillow and bed; and in winter, when it was cold, he warmed the bed-clothes with his body. The magistrate sent him an honorary banner, as a mark of distinction. When the heat of summer made it difficult to sleep quietly, the lad knew what would be for the comfort of his venerated parent. Taking a fan, he slowly waved it about the silken curtains, and the cool air, entering, enveloped and filled the pillows and bed. In winter, when the snow threatened to crush in the roof and the fierce wind shook the fences, and the cold penetrated to the bones, making it hazardous to unloose the girdle, then Hsiang warmed his father’s bed that he might not fear, because of the cold, to enter the “place of dreams.” No. XI _The Gushing Fountain and the Frisking Carp_