All things in this world have a spiritual nature, including animals. Saved animals will always repay the benefactors that helped them.
A dog rescued its master and caught the bandit
A merchant made a lot of money doing business in Wuhu, China. He prepared to go home, and so he rented a boat. When he was ready to set sail, he saw a butcher on the embankment with a dog tied up. Not wanting to see the animal killed, he paid a high price to the butcher and kept the dog with him on the boat.
The boatman that he rented the boat from was a bandit. Seeing the merchant’s loaded bags, he became greedy. He rowed a boat to a secluded place, planning to kill the merchant with a knife. The merchant begged him to leave his body intact.
The boatman wrapped him in a blanket and threw him into the river. The dog, seeing this, wailed and jumped into the water. It held the blanket that wrapped the merchant in its mouth and floated with him in the water. They drifted for an unknown distance until they came to a shallow beach.
The dog had saved the merchant and it swam out of the water and went to find people. When it saw people, it kept barking and wailing. The people thought the dog was acting strange. They all decided to follow the dog. They found the man in a terrible state, and the people helped him.
The dog saved the merchant with its quick thinking and instincts. After the merchant recovered, he found another boatman to take him back to Wuhu. He intended to wait there for the bandit’s boat to return. After boarding the boat, the merchant found that the dog had disappeared. He felt sad about it leaving.
A few days passed since the merchant returned to Wuhu. He waited at the dock but did not find the bandit’s boat. Nevertheless, he met another merchant from his hometown and decided to go home with him.
The moment he boarded the boat with his companion, he saw the dog run up to him. It barked at him, then turned around and ran away. The merchant got off the boat to catch up with the dog immediately. He saw it run onto a boat and bite a man’s thigh.
It turned out that the man who was bitten was the bandit himself. His clothes and the boat had become different. This made it difficult to identify him, but the dog knew! The merchant hired several men to tie up the bandit, and they found his stolen money on the boat. He was overwhelmed by how clever and loyal the dog was that he bent down to the dog’s height and gave him a hearty pat behind the ears.
He spoke gently to the dog: “Good boy.” The dog wagged its tail as he was being patted and loved. The merchant was so grateful that he had saved the dog.
A white turtle saved the general
Mao Bao, a general of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, was riding on a boat on the river when he saw a fisherman catch a white turtle. He wanted to free it, so he bought it from the fisherman and returned it to the water.
Years later, Mao Bao was defeated in the battle of Zhucheng. He threw himself into the river. Miraculously he found something carrying him on its back. It continued to take him to the other side until he got onto the shore.
When he took a closer look, he found that it was the white turtle that he had released a long time ago. After it saved Mao Bao, the grateful turtle swam back to the river and kept looking back at Mao Bao to say goodbye.
Translated by Cecilia
