Ever since records of tigers first appeared in ancient China, there have been numerous incidents of them injuring or even devouring people. Yet, despite their ferocity, a saying has long circulated among the people: “Even a tiger, though vicious, will not eat its own cubs.” This has led people to believe that tigers, despite their fully developed animal instincts, also possess a degree of human understanding.
In fact, tigers not only understand human nature but can also distinguish between good and evil, as well as filial piety and brotherly love. As the saying goes: “Of all virtues, filial piety comes first.” When a tiger encounters someone with sincere filial devotion and benevolent intentions, it will avoid causing them harm.
Let’s take a look at the following stories.
Yang Xiang
The most well-known account is the story of “Yang Xiang Saves Her Father” from the Jin Dynasty. Yang Xiang’s father, Yang Feng, was a villager in Nanxiang County, Henan. One day, while Yang Feng and his 14-year-old daughter were harvesting rice in the fields, a tiger suddenly pounced on him and clamped down, refusing to let go.
Seeing this, Yang Xiang fought the tiger with her bare hands. She gathered all her strength and locked her arms around the tiger’s neck. How could a teenage girl possibly overcome a tiger? Yet, after breaking free, it did not attack again and quickly left. Yang Feng’s life was thus spared. A local prefect reported the incident to the emperor, who, upon hearing of it, issued an edict ordering an archway to be erected at Yang Xiang’s home in recognition of her filial piety.
Xu Tan
In the early years of the Tang Dynasty, a boy named Xu Tan, at the age of 10, accompanied his father into the mountains to gather medicinal herbs. One day, his father was attacked by a tiger in the mountains, and Xu Tan immediately cried out for help. But in the remote wilderness, there was no one to come to their rescue. He then picked up a stick from the ground and struck the tiger. Though it was enormous, Xu Tan eventually managed to drive it away. His father was thus saved.
Later, news of this incident reached the imperial court. Emperor Taizong remarked: “Xu Tan, though so young, was willing to risk his life to save his father. Such filial devotion is truly rare; I shall reward him!” Several years later, the emperor personally appointed Xu Tan as a Wenlin Lang (the 28th rank of civil officials, 9th grade, upper class) and bestowed upon him 50 bolts of silk.
Zhang Huizhong
During the reign of Emperor Gaozong of the Song Dynasty, Zhang Huizhong, a jinshi (highest imperial examination degree holder) from Chengdu, once experienced a near-death ordeal. He had set out for the capital to take the imperial examinations, originally traveling with his brother-in-law. However, as their boat reached the Three Gorges, it capsized in the river. His brother-in-law was unable to be rescued and drowned.
Later, after successfully passing the imperial examinations, Zhang Huizhong was appointed Chief Clerk in Jingyan County, Sichuan. On one occasion, while returning home and passing through the Three Gorges again, he received news that his younger brother had passed away.
Eager to return home quickly, he chose not to travel by boat and instead found a fast horse to take a shortcut through the mountains. As he passed through Wanzhou, night had already fallen. While riding, his horse suddenly stumbled and threw him off a cliff. Fortunately, the drop was not very high, and he slowly regained consciousness.
Just then, a tiger approached and seized him by the hair. Weak and helpless, he could only try to reason with it. He said, “You are an intelligent creature and should be able to understand my words. I have an eighty-year-old mother who gave birth to two sons and a daughter. My brother-in-law died in the river last year, and my younger brother passed away at home this year. Now I am the only one left, barely supporting my mother on my modest salary. If you eat me today, she will have no one to depend on. How is she supposed to live?” After hearing these words, the tiger turned and walked away.
The tiger and the siblings
During the Jingding era of the Southern Song Dynasty, in a village in Yingzhou (an ancient administrative region) in Hubei, a brother and a sister made their living by gathering firewood. Each day after collecting wood, they would split up: the sister would take some home for cooking, while the brother would take the rest to the market to sell, earning a small income to support their elderly mother.
One day, just as they had finished gathering firewood, they were spotted by a tiger, which relentlessly gave chase. The younger brother managed to climb a tree, but the tiger still grabbed hold of the hem of his shirt. At that moment, the sister, standing behind the tiger, seized its tail and shouted: “Tiger, eat me instead — don’t eat my brother! If my brother dies, who will support our mother?” After hearing her words, it turned, looked at her, then released them and walked away.
Zhu Tai
There was also a man named Zhu Tai, who had always lived in poverty. To support his elderly mother, he had to carry the firewood he had chopped to a market a hundred miles away to sell it. One day, late into the night, he was still chopping wood in the forest when a tiger approached him, seized him, and began to carry him away. He cried out: “It doesn’t matter if you eat me, but my mother is very old — who will take care of her if I’m gone?” Upon hearing this, the tiger set Zhu Tai down and walked away alone. When the villagers heard of this, they all believed that his filial piety had moved heaven and earth, so they came forward with money to support him.
It is said that those with filial piety are blessed by the divine, and that even a man-eating tiger can be moved to abandon its murderous intent.
Translated by Eva and edited by Tatiana Denning
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