rule. If it be the father or mother of the lady who died, the son-in-law will follow a similar course[1]."
18. 𝖅ǎng-𝖟ze asked, "The son-in-law has met the lady in person, and she is on the way with him:—if (then) his father or mother die, what course should be adopted?"
Confucius said, "The lady will change her dress[2]; and in the long linen robe[3], with the cincture of white silk round her hair, will hasten to be present at the mourning rites. If, while she is on the way, it be her own father or mother who dies, she will return[4]."
19. "If the son-in-law have met the lady in person, and before she has arrived at his house, there occur a death requiring the years or the nine months' mourning, what course should be adopted?"
Confucius said, "Before the gentleman enters, he will change his dress in a place outside. The lady will enter and change her dress in a place inside. They will then go to the proper positions and wail."
𝖅ǎng-𝖟ze asked, "When the mourning is ended, will they not resume the marriage ceremonies?"
- ↑ Is the final marriage of the lady to the original betrothed "son-in-law," or bridegroom as we should say; or to another, that she may not pass the proper time for her marrying? Khung Ying-tâ, and other old commentators, advocate the latter view. Others, and especially the Khien-lung editors, maintain the former; and I have indicated in the version my agreement with them. There are difficulties with the text; but Confucius would hardly have sanctioned the other course.
- ↑ At the house of him who was now her husband.
- ↑ This, called "the deep garment," had the body and skirt sown together. See Book XXXIV.
- ↑ This would be done, it is said, by Hsü Sze-𝖟hǎng (Ming dynasty), to allow play to her filial piety, but she would live at the house of "the son-in-law."
