Long long ago, in the age before television, a man named Lo Shi lived in China. He and his wife were not particularly wealthy but he worked hard and eventually managed to save up some money. He took his money, some possessions of his, and traveled with a group of merchants to some distant towns near the great wall. They unloaded their wares and began to trade with those at the town. It was not long before Lo Shi sold everything he brought, as he didn’t have much to sell, and purchased things that he felt he would need back home. After he had purchased everything he needed he found that he had 20 coins left over. He decided he would use the money left over to buy a present for his wife. So he went off to a bazaar and browsed through the various stalls. He looked at cloths, utensils, and other things but everything he saw was either too expensive or just not right to get his wife. He was about to buy her a new cooking pot when he heard
“Words for sale! Words for sale!”
Curious he followed the voice to an old man sitting on a stool who continued to cry out
“Words for sale! Words for sale!”
“What sort of words are you selling?” Lo Shi asked
“Words that are spoken,” the old man replied.
“I would like to him”
“For the cost of 20 coins I will gladly tell them to you”
Lo Shi thought about it since it would mean he couldn’t get his wife something, but he really wanted to know what the old man had to say. He eventually decided that maybe his wife would like the words if they were any good.
“Very well,” Lo Shi said at last “Here are 20 coins, no speak.”
The old man took the coins, looked hard at Lo Shi and said these words:
“Beware of an inn in a valley.
Take no shelter from the rain.
Listen well to the storytellers tale.
Wash not your head thats damp with oil.
Learn these words and tell them to Chou Win:
One du of grain, three shins of rice. (Ee du gootsai, san shin me)”
Lo Shi returned to the group of merchants he was traveling with, his head still ringing with the strange words the old man told him. The next day they set off on their return journey home. That evening they had come to an inn that stood in a valley. Since it was getting late the other merchants paid for rooms in the inn. Lo Shi, remembering the first warning of the old man, chose to continue his journey. The other merchants warned him that there were no other inns or villages nearby and he would be caught in the open. Lo Shi however continued on his way. He had barely climbed to the top of a hill overlooking the valley when the sun fully set and it was too dark to continue. Lo Shi lit a fire and proceeded to camp the night on the hill. During the night he was woken up by a loud rumbling noise. Scared, Lo Shi looked around but it was too dark too see anything. The rumbling faded away and Lo Shi eventually went back to sleep. In the morning Lo Shi woke up and with the sun up he was able to see that a massive flood had washed through the valley last night. Where the inn had stood was now a large lake. Lo Shi loaded up his wares and continued on his way alone.
Later that day he encountered a man who was going his way. They kept each other company on the long journey. While they were traveling it began to rain. The rain grew into a deluge that began to soak the two men.
Lo Shi’s traveling companion saw an overhanging rock and suggested going there to get out of the rain. Lo Shi remembered the second warning from the old man and suggested continuing on. Lo Shi’s companion refused to continue in the rain and went under the overhand and proceeded dry off. Lo Shi continued on his way but hadn’t gone more then a dozen steps when he heard a loud crashing noise behind him. Turning around he saw the rock had fallen and crushed the stranger. Lo Shi hastily continued on his way.
That evening Lo Shi arrived at a town where his cousin lived and worked as a potter. Having traveled quickly for the past two days he was tired and so went to his cousins home to rest. Lo Shi’s cousin welcomed his relative in and after enjoying a meal together Lo Shi, tired from his journey, went to bed early. However once Lo Shi went to bed his cousins thoughts turned cruel. Recently Lo Shi’s cousin pottery business was not doing well. Too many of the parts were cracking in the kiln and he saw Lo Shi’s visit a chance to change this.
“Long ago,” the cousin told his wife, “it was said that a human sacrifice had to be made in the kiln before it did good wook. Maybe that is why our oven works so poorly. Let us send Lo Shi to the workshop tomorrow with food for the workers. I’ll instruct them to seize and cast into the kiln the man who brings them food. That should make our kiln work better.”
The next day, as the wife was preparing breakfast she said to Lo Shi, “Be so kind, dear cousin, as to take dinners to our workmen at the pottery.”
Being eager to help his hosts Lo Shi readily agreed and hung the yoke over his shoulders with two baskets of food. He had not traveled far when he came upon a crowd at the roadside listening to the stories of an old storyteller. Remembering the words he bought he sat down to listen. Lo Shi became engrossed in the story and was enjoying himself immensely when his cousins son happened to pass by. Seeing his uncle enraptured with the story he offered to take the men their food himself. Lo Shi was pleased to agree.
Of course as soon as the young man entered the pottery the workmen grabbed him and stuffed him into the kiln where he was burned up. Lo Shi however finished listening to the stories and returned home, completely unaware of what had happened.
When Lo Shi’s cousin and wife saw him they were amazed though they tried not to show it.
“Did you take the men their dinners?” asked the cousin.
Lo Shi started to explain, saying “When I had gone partway there I saw an old storyteller. He was telling such an interesting tale that I stopped to listen. As I was sitting there, my nephew, your son, came along...”
At that the cousin and his wife let out loud groans.
“Whatever is the matter?” Lo Shi asked in surprise.
The two looked at each for awhile then the cousin urged Lo Shi to continue.
“Your son happened by and offered to take the food himself. I handed him the yoke and off he went. Is he not back yet?”
The cousin and his wife just looked at Lo Shi in blank shock. Lo Shi, suddenly suspicious of his cousin, thanked his cousin for his hospitality, gathered his belongings and continued on his journey home. Traveling quickly he arrived home late the next day.
Now while Lo Shi had been away, his wife had taken in a lodger who happened to a member of a notorious gang of robbers. At the very moment when Lo Shi knocked at the gates she was sitting at home having supper with the robber. Straightaway she recognized her husbands voice, and hid the robber, but in her haste forgot to clear the rice bowls from the table.
When she had let her husband in and greeted him she sat him down at the table and brought some tea. Lo Shi noticed the two pairs of chopsticks and rice bowls already on the table.
“Why are there already two meals on the table?” he asked his wife suspiciously.
“You ungrateful man,” his wife retorted. “All the time you’ve been away I laid the table for two to remind me of you, just as if you were sitting here with me.”
Lo Shi, feeling a little ashamed, ate the food the robber had just been eating. After the meal he lay down and was soon fast asleep. His wife meanwhile proceeded with her sewing in the light of the lamp. She was very nervous though that the robber would be caught in her home and in her nervousness she knocked over the oil lamp, spilling some oil on Lo Shi’s head.
The hot oil made him jump up in pain. Lo Shi’s wife quickly calmed him down and offered to wash the oil out of his hair even though it was so late. Remembering the fourth warning he declined his wife’s offer and they both went to bed.
The robber however decided to leave his hiding spot, a sharp dagger in his hand. His plan was to kill Lo Shi and then he and the wife could steal all his belongings. However in the darkness the robber could not tell which of the two people lying in front of him were Lo Shi and which was the wife. Then he had an idea.
“I know,” he said to himself, “women put oil in their hair, men do not.”
He felt the hair of one head and since it was oily, he quickly cut the throat of the other sleeper. So instead of killing Lo Shi, he mistakenly killed Lo Shi’s wife.
In the morning when Lo Shi woke up, he saw with horror the dead body of his wife. Rushing from the house he called his neighbors and told them what had happened. However the neighbors accused poor Lo Shi of the murder.
The district governer heard of it and sent guards to arrest the bewildered Lo Shi. In no time at all he found himself dragged before the governer, Chou Win.
“Speak up, you scoundrel,” shouted Chou Win. “Why did you kill your wife?”
As soon as Lo Shi heard the governor’s name he remembered the fifth instructions from the old man. He fell on his knees and told his story.
“Most honorable lord, I went to the Great Wall to trade and before my return purchased words from an old man for twenty coins. Everything he said I have done and it has saved my life each time.”
“What sort of words did the old man sell you?” Asked Chou Win.
Lo Shi repeated the words:
“Beware of an inn in a valley.
Take no shelter from the rain.
Listen well to the storytellers tale.
Wash not your head thats damp with oil.
Learn these words and tell them to Chou Win:
One du of grain, three shins of rice. (Ee du gootsai, san shin me)”
The governor just looked at him puzzled.
“So now as the old man told me, I tell you the words ‘One du of grain, three shins of rice’ (Ee du gootsai, san shin me)” Lo Shi said finishing his story.
Chou Win seemed lost in thought. “That man was undoubtedly an immortal sage”, he said at last. “Let me think, ‘Ee du gootsai, san shin me’. Hmmm.... Du Goo, that could be someones name.”
Chou Win called in his guards asked if there was a man by the name of Du Goo. The guards replied that there was such a man who was suspected to be leader of a band of robbers but no proof had ever been found to convict. Chou Win ordered his guards to bring Lo Shi as they went to make a surprise visit to Du Goo.
Du Goo the robber was surprised by the knock on the door and terrified at seeing the governors guards. But he was calm and polite as he opened the door.
“Greetings honored one,” He said bowing to Chou Win. “How may I serve you this morning?”
“Did you murder this mans wife?” Chou Win barked
“Of course not, I am no murderer. I have never had anything to do with this man or his wife” Du Goo replied. “He is obviously trying to blame someone else in order to avoid punishment for his crime.”
Chou Win felt that Lo Shi’s story did seem a little far fetched. He was considering leaving when he noticed a rice barrel in Du Goo’s home, one that could store about three shins of rice. Deciding it was worth investigating just a little more he ordered his guard to open the barrel. Hidden in the rice was a pendent engraved with the name of both Lo Shi and Lo Shi’s wife.
Obviously caught in his lie the man confessed to plotting with Lo Shi’s wife to rob Lo Shi but killing her by mistake. Enraged Chou Win sentenced Du Goo to death and released Lo Shi.
Lo Shi returned home and eventually married a woman who was humble like himself. They lived together in modesty and harmony to a venerable old age.