ABSTRACT
A The Abiding Wet Nurse of Wei The Abiding Wet Nurse (Wei Jie Rumu) for the children of King Xia of Wei (Wei Wang Xia; one source gives his name as King Jia), fl. 661 B.C.E., was killed while protecting the last royal son of the state of Wei (in present-day Shanxi Province) after invaders from the state of Qin (present-day Shaanxi Province) had put the king and his other sons to death. Rather than accept a large monetary reward, she risked the punitive extermination of her own family to flee with the remaining prince. A turncoat Wei minister revealed her hiding place to the Qin, and although she covered the child with her own body in an attempt to protect him they were both killed, at least a dozen arrows piercing her body. Impressed with her loyalty and maternal instincts, the Qin king rewarded her brother with money and gave her a lavish burial. It was said that her kindness came from a good conscience, while she herself is quoted as saying that “all who nourish men’s children have a duty to keep them alive and not to kill them” (O’Hara, 145). Her biography is included in “Biographies of the Chaste and Righteous” in Biographies of Eminent Women (Lienü zhuan).
