Chapter 107 The Story of Cao E Stele

Now, among the inscriptions of Han Li, there is a masterpiece handed down from generation to generation, which has always been valued by calligraphers. This is the "Stele of Filial Piety Cao E".When it comes to the Cao E stele, not only is the art of calligraphy sublime, but the diction is also a masterpiece of Han Dynasty articles.The most famous, or several stories about it. During the reign of Emperor Hedi, there was a shaman named Cao Mo in Shangyu County who could worship God by whirling and dancing. One year, on May 5th, he and many people rowed a dragon boat to meet the tide god. die.At that time, when the river tide was rising, although there were many people, no one dared to go into the water to salvage the corpse.Cao Nai's daughter was only fourteen years old. She cried around the river for seven days and nights and jumped into the river.Five days later, her body floated on the surface of the river with her father's body on her back, and the villagers buried her by the river.

At that time, the county magistrate of Shangyu was Du Shang.Du Shang was very moved by Cao E's deeds. He heard that the imperial court named Cao E a filial daughter and wanted to write a monument for her.Du Shang ordered Handan Chun to write a composition and engrave a stele to record it.At that time, Handan Chun was also a child, only thirteen years old, and he wrote without adding any points, and he wrote it on the side of the stone tomb. People at that time were very surprised. Later, Cai Yong, a famous writer in the Eastern Han Dynasty, heard about this and went to see the Cao E stele.When he arrived at the place, it was almost dark, so he touched the concave marks of the inscription with his hand in the dark, and read the inscription.After reading it, he didn't say anything, but wrote the eight characters on the back of the stele.When later generations engraved the stone, they also engraved these eight characters on it.These eight characters are: the grandson of the young woman in yellow silk, Jijiu.

Cai Yong means: Yellow silk is colored silk.Add a silk next to the word color, which is a word "jue".A young woman is a young girl, and the character for female is added with a word for "Miao".The grandson is the child of the daughter, and the character for female is added with a sub-character, which is a word for "good".The garlic is a container for crushing garlic. The garlic tastes spicy, which is the word "Xin" in the ancient Chinese.Together, it is a "wonderful speech". This incident is mentioned in both the book and the book, and it is a famous story in the history of literature.Later generations call Cao E's deeds, Handan Chun's articles, and Cai Yong's evaluation collectively the "three wonders" of Cao E's stele.