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Speaker 1: Judgment of a solomon from the Chinese of Who sung

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Ling Herbert M. Giles translator. In our district there lived

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two men named Hu Cheng and Feng Nan, between whom

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there existed an old feud. The former, however, was the

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stronger of the two, and accordingly Feng disguised his feelings

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under a specious appearance of friendship, though who never placed

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much faith in his professions. One day they were drinking together, and,

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being both of them rather the worse for liquor, they

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began to brag of the various exploits they had achieved.

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What care I for poverty? Cried Who, when I can

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lay a hundred ounces of silver on the table at

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a moment's notice. Now Feng was well aware of the

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state of whose affairs, and did not hesitate to scout

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such pretensions until Who further informed him in perfect seriousness,

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that the day before he had met a merchant traveling

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with a large sum of money, and had tumbled him

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down a dry well by the wayside, in confirmation of

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which he produced several hundred ounces of silver, which really

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belonged to a brother in law on whose behalf he

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was managing some negotiation for the purchase of land. When

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they separated, Feg went off and gave information to the

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magistrate of the place, who summoned Who to answer to

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the charge, who then told the actual facts of the case,

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and his brother in law and the owner of the

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land in question corroborated his statement. However, on examining the

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dry well by letting a man down with a rope

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round him, lo there was a headless corpse lying at

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the bottom, who was horrified at this and called Heaven

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to witness that he was innocent, whereupon the magistrate ordered

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him twenty or thirty blows on the mouth for lying

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in the presence of such irrefragable proof, and cast him

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into the condemned cell, where he lay loaded with chains.

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Orders were issued that the corps was not to be removed,

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and a notification was made to the people calling upon

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the relatives of the deceased to come forward and claim

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the body. Next day a woman appeared and said deceased

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was her husband, that his name was Ho, and that

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he was proceeding on business with a large sum of

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money about him when he was killed by who. The

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magistrate observed that possibly the body and the well might

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not be that of her husband, to which the woman

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replied that she felt sure it was, and accordingly, the

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corpse was brought up and examined. When the woman's story

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was found to be correct, she herself did not go

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near the body, but stood at a little distance, making

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the most doleful lamentation, until at length the magistrate said,

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we have got the murderer, but the body is not complete.

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You go home and wait until the head has been discovered,

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when life shall be given for life. He then summoned

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who before him and told him to produce the head

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by the next day, under penalty of severe torture, but

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who only wandered about with the guard sent in charge

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of him, crying and lamenting his fate, but finding nothing.

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The instruments of torture were then produced and preparations were

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made as if for torturing who. However, they were not applied,

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and finally the magistrate sent him back to prison, saying,

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I suppose that in your hurry you didn't notice where

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you dropped the head. The woman was then brought before

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him again, and on learning that her relatives consisted only

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of one uncle, the magistrate remarked, a young woman like

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you left alone in the world will hardly be able

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to earn a livelihood here. She burst into tears and

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implored the magistrate's pity. The punishment of the guilty man

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has already been decided upon, but until we get the head,

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the case cannot be closed. As soon as it is closed,

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the best thing you can do is to marry again.

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A young woman like yourself should not be in and

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out of a police court. The woman thanked the magistrate

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and retired, and the latter issued a notice to the people,

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calling upon them to make a search for the head.

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On the following day, a man named Wang, a fellow

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villager of the deceased, reported that he had found the

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missing head, and his report proving to be true. He

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was rewarded with one thousand cash. The magistrate now summoned

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the woman's uncle above mentioned and told him that the

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case was complete, but that as it involved such an

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important matter as the life of a human being, there

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would necessarily be some delay in closing it for good

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and all. Translator's footnote. There is a widespread belief that

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human life in China is held at a cheap rate.

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This may be accounted for by the fact that death

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is the legal punishment for many crimes not considered capital

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in the West, and by the severe measures that are

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always taken in cases of rebellion, when the innocent and

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guilty are often indiscriminately massacred. In times of tranquility, however,

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this is not the case, and the execution of a

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criminal is surrounded by a number of formalities which go

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far to prevent the shedding of innocent blood. The Sia

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juan Lu opens with the words there is nothing more

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important than human life Herbert M. Giles translator, end of

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translator's footnote. Meanwhile, added the magistrate, your niece is a

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young woman and has no children. Persuade her to marry again,

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and so keep herself out of these troubles, and never

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mind what people may say. The uncle at first refused

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to do this, upon which the magistrate was obliged to

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threaten him, until he was ultimately forced to consent. At

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this the woman appeared before the magistrate to thank him

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for what he had done, whereupon the latter gave out

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that any person who was willing to take the woman

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to wife was to present himself at his yamen. Immediately afterwards,

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an application was made by the very man who had

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found the head. The magistrate then sent for the woman

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and asked her if she could say who was the

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real murderer, to which she replied that Hu Chin had

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done the deed. No, cried the magistrate. It was not he.

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It was you and this man here here Both began

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loudly to protest their innocence. I have long known this,

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but fearing to leave the smallest loophole for escape, I

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have tarried thus long in elucidating the circumstances. How to

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the woman, before the corpse was removed from the well,

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were you so certain that it was your husband's body

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because you already knew he was dead? And does a

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trader who has several hundred ounces of silver about him

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dress as shabbily as your husband was dressed? And you

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to the man, how did you manage to find the

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head so readily because you were in a hurry to

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marry Mary the woman. The two culprits stood there as

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pale as death, unable to utter a word in their defense,

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and on application of torture, both confessed the crime. For

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this man, the woman's paramour, had killed her husband. Curiously enough,

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about the time of Hu Chang's braggart joke, who was

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accordingly released. But Feng suffered the penalty of a false accuser.

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He was severely bambooed and banished for three years. The

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case was thus brought to a close without the wrongful

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punishment of a single person