The Book of Filial Duty, by Ivan Chen, [1908], at sacred-texts.com

No. VII

With Deer's Milk he supplied his Parents

In the time of the Chou dynasty lived Yen, who possessed a very filial disposition. His father and mother were aged, and both were afflicted with sore eyes, to cure which they desired to have some deer's milk. Yen concealed himself in the skin of a deer, and went deep into the forests, among the herds of deer, to obtain some of their milk for his parents. While amongst the trees the hunters saw him, and were about to shoot at him with their arrows, when Yen disclosed to them his true character and related the history of his family, with the reasons for his conduct.

Do his parents desire some milk from the deer? He is not deterred by the obstacles in the way of

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procuring it; but clothing himself in a hairy garment, he goes carefully seeking for it among the multitudes of wild beasts. He closely imitated the cry, yew, yew, of the fawns, watching for the tracks of the herds. By this mode he obtained the sweet secretion; he also surprised the hunters whom he met in the deep and lonely forest.