1
00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:06,440
Speaker 1: Another solomon from the Chinese. At Taiyuan, there lived a

2
00:00:06,480 --> 00:00:09,720
middle aged woman with her widowed daughter in law. The

3
00:00:09,800 --> 00:00:12,919
former was on terms of too great intimacy with a

4
00:00:12,960 --> 00:00:16,640
notably bad character of the neighborhood, and the daughter, who

5
00:00:16,640 --> 00:00:19,800
objected very strongly to this, did her best to keep

6
00:00:19,839 --> 00:00:23,600
the man from the house. The elder woman, accordingly tried

7
00:00:23,640 --> 00:00:25,920
to send the other back to her family, but she

8
00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:29,239
would not go, and at length things came to such

9
00:00:29,239 --> 00:00:31,440
a pass that the mother in law actually went to

10
00:00:31,480 --> 00:00:34,039
the mandarin of the place and charged her daughter in

11
00:00:34,079 --> 00:00:37,640
law with the offense she herself was committing. When the

12
00:00:37,679 --> 00:00:41,320
mandarin inquired the name of the man concerned, she said

13
00:00:41,359 --> 00:00:43,759
she had only seen him in the dark and didn't

14
00:00:43,840 --> 00:00:48,240
know who he was, referring him for information to the accused.

15
00:00:48,640 --> 00:00:52,560
The latter, on being summoned, gave the man's name, but

16
00:00:52,719 --> 00:00:55,799
retorted the charge on her mother in law, and when

17
00:00:55,840 --> 00:00:59,359
the man was confronted with them, he promptly declared both

18
00:00:59,399 --> 00:01:03,560
their stories to be false. The mandarin, however, said there

19
00:01:03,600 --> 00:01:06,599
was a prima facie case against him and ordered him

20
00:01:06,640 --> 00:01:10,000
to be severely beaten, whereupon he confessed that it was

21
00:01:10,040 --> 00:01:13,000
the daughter in law whom he went to visit this

22
00:01:13,239 --> 00:01:17,280
the woman herself flatly denied, even under torture, and on

23
00:01:17,400 --> 00:01:20,599
being released, appealed to a higher court with a very

24
00:01:20,599 --> 00:01:25,599
similar result. Thus the case dragged on until a mister Son,

25
00:01:25,959 --> 00:01:29,480
who was well known for his judicial acumen, was appointed

26
00:01:29,519 --> 00:01:34,040
district magistrate at that place. Calling the parties before him,

27
00:01:34,239 --> 00:01:37,640
he bade his lictors prepare stones and knives, at which

28
00:01:37,680 --> 00:01:41,239
they were much exercised in their minds, the severest tortures

29
00:01:41,280 --> 00:01:45,879
allowed by law, being merely guides and fetters. However, everything

30
00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:48,959
was got ready, and the next day mister Sun proceeded

31
00:01:48,959 --> 00:01:52,799
with his investigation. After hearing all that each one of

32
00:01:52,840 --> 00:01:56,079
the three had to say, he delivered the following judgment.

33
00:01:56,920 --> 00:01:59,319
The case is a simple one, for although I cannot

34
00:01:59,359 --> 00:02:01,760
say which of you to women as the guilty one,

35
00:02:01,920 --> 00:02:04,760
there is no doubt about the man who has evidently

36
00:02:04,799 --> 00:02:08,000
been the means of bringing discredit on a virtuous family.

37
00:02:08,439 --> 00:02:11,360
Take those stones and knives there and put him to death.

38
00:02:11,800 --> 00:02:15,919
I will be responsible. Thereupon, the two women began to

39
00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:19,199
stone the man, especially the younger one, who sees the

40
00:02:19,240 --> 00:02:21,800
biggest stone she could see, and threw them at him

41
00:02:21,840 --> 00:02:24,439
with all the might of her pent up anger, while

42
00:02:24,439 --> 00:02:27,319
the mother in law chose small stones and struck him

43
00:02:27,360 --> 00:02:31,159
on non vital parts. So with the knives, the daughter

44
00:02:31,199 --> 00:02:33,159
in law would have killed him at the first blow,

45
00:02:33,280 --> 00:02:36,840
had not the Mandarin stopped her and said, hold, I

46
00:02:37,000 --> 00:02:40,120
now know who is the guilty woman. The mother in

47
00:02:40,199 --> 00:02:43,479
law was then tortured until she confessed, and the case

48
00:02:43,599 --> 00:02:44,800
was thus terminated.