In the summer of 581 BC, the twenty-sixth ruler of the State of Jin (referred to as “the King” below) passed away. The classic Chinese text Zuo Zhuan provides a detailed account of the various bizarre events surrounding the King’s death.
According to the Zuo Zhuan, the King first had a nightmare. Upon waking, he consulted a sorcerer, who told him that he would not live to eat the newly harvested wheat.
Soon after, the King’s condition worsened, and he had another dream in which two mischievous children mocked him, these children being the embodiments of his illness.
The King sought out a renowned physician from the State of Qin, named Yiyuan. Before Yiyuan arrived in Jin, the King dreamed again of the illness transforming into two children, one of whom said, “Yiyuan is a famous doctor, should we run?” The other child replied, “What’s there to fear? The illness has reached the area between the heart and diaphragm; Yiyuan can do nothing to us!” Indeed, upon arriving in Jin, Yiyuan told the King that the illness had reached the area between the heart and diaphragm and was therefore incurable. The King praised the physician’s skill, bestowed upon him generous rewards, and sent him back to Qin.
Shortly after, the King desired to eat wheat-based food and ordered new wheat to be presented. Recalling the sorcerer’s prediction that he would not eat new wheat, he showed the new wheat to the sorcerer. Thinking the sorcerer’s prediction was false, the King had him executed. Just as the King was about to eat, he felt abdominal distension and went to the privy pit, where he accidentally fell into the privy pit and died.
That very morning, a slave had dreamed of carrying the King to ascend to heaven. Consequently, it was this slave who retrieved the King’s body from the privy later that noon.
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