Herbal Legends XI
马勃 Ma Bo
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Once upon a time in ancient China a young boy named Ma Bo helped his father to herd pigs. One of his tasks was to venture into the mountains every now and then to fetch fresh grass as fodder for the stock. One day he went together with a few neighbors’ boys, who had the same job, namely to mow grass in the mountains. However his friend injured himself with the sickle on his leg. The wound bled terribly. While the other friends just stood by helpless, Ma Bo ran away to get something. While rushing away, he shouted at them to press strongly on the wound and that he would be back shortly with a remedy to stop the bleeding.
After a short while he had returned with something brown in his hand, shaped like a popsicle, but color and texture resembled more a horse dropping. Among the people this mushroom was known to be called Dust Bag [灰包], since dust came out of it when it was squeezed. His friends were terrified at the sight of this dirty remedy, but they let him carry on. He pressed the mushroom firmly on the wound and wrapped around a dressing. On the way home he carried his friend down the mountain. Three days later his friend removed the dressing and was surprised to notice that the wound had mostly closed up and there were no signs of pus. Two days later the wound was completely healed. The parents of the boy were astonished:
Ma Bo, you are still young in years. How did you know the healing properties of this mushroom? Who taught you?
Therefore, Ma Bo told them:
This is how it happened. One time while mowing grass the sickle dug deep into my leg, and in fright I just grabbed what was nearest and pressed in onto the wound. This was exactly that mushroom. To my own surprise the wound stopped bleeding shortly after, and healed extremely fast. Four to five days later the wound made a full recovery. Since then I always seek this mushroom when I am injured.
Ma Bo’s words traveled fast and whenever someone suffered an injury they sought out Ma Bo. In this way the young pig herdsman became synonymous with this remedy. Later its original name Dust Bag became forgotten and it was only called Ma Bo [马勃- Lasiospaerae fructificatio].
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