Two beggars, Cai & Ran, who were sworn brothers, lived in a remote village. One day the younger brother Ran complained about a painful furuncle on his finger. The finger caused so much pain that the beggar could not rest anymore and started pacing around in agitation. The elder brother Cai looked at the finger and in fact it was red and swollen. He consequently uttered:
“Come, let us go to the Pharmacy of Benevolence. People say that they have a secret formula for furuncles.”
Thus, the two sworn brothers went to the Pharmacy of Benevolence, showed the apothecary the furuncle and begged him for a remedy to cure it. The apothecary harshly remarked:
“That would cost two silver coins. If you do not have any money, be on your way.”
Since the two beggars Cai & Ran had no money, they pleaded for a little while longer, but the apothecary was not persuaded and even tried to chase them away. Drawn in by the spectacle a few villagers entered the pharmacy. One of them said to the apothecary:
“The beggar is suffering from tremendous pain, why not give him an antidote to mitigate his agony? He really looks deserving of mercy.”
But the apothecary rejected the people:
“Take care of your own business! I have nothing to give away for free.”
That same man reprimanded the apothecary:
“Is your pharmacy not called Pharmacy of Benevolence? If you are not willing to help the poor and desperate, what right do you have to call your pharmacy by that name?”
The apothecary only re-joined:
“I am not obliged in the slightest to gift my expensive medicine to roaming beggars.”
The beggars Cai & Ran waved his comment off and said:
“Actually we don’t want your medicine. We will go somewhere else.”
Thereafter the arrogant apothecary only burst into laughter:
“I want to see the person who has an effective remedy for furuncles. Only I have it. If someone else happens to have one, then I personally will take down the sign of my pharmacy.”
The two beggars Cai & Ran walked to the edge of the village, sat down on the meadow and contemplated, what they could possibly do. While the elder Brother Cai was in thought his sight was caught by a viola, which were strewn across the field of flowers. Casually he picked a flower, put it into his mouth and chewed on it, preoccupied with his worries. When he tasted its bitter-pungent flavor, he spat it out into his hand. At that moment the younger brother Ran began to complain once again:
“My finger is burning like fire! If I could only cool it down somehow!”
They looked around, but water was nowhere to be found. Running out of ideas the elder brother Cai placed the chewed-up viola on the furuncle. After a while the younger brother Ran mentioned that his finger was much less in pain, and the heat was also reduced. Thereafter it dawned on the elder brother Cai, that the improvement was most likely attributed to the flower and that the plant ought to be a remedy for furuncles. That is why they picked more violas. Half of them they pounded to a pulp and smeared it on the wound. The other half they cooked into a medicinal brew. This decoction tasted horribly but seemed to help. After two days the finger’s swelling abated and became pain-free. Days later the two beggars Cai & Ran made their way to the pharmacy armed with a club, smashed down the shop sign and sold their remedy for furuncles from that day onward: V-I-O-L-A- [zi hua di ding 紫花地丁].
If you enjoyed reading this please consider supporting us!
When we started the Purple Cloud Institute, our aim was to make accessible educational material about traditional Chinese cultural practices. We strive to keep prices of our books as affordable as possible and the content we provide free of charge. However, there are many ongoing behind the scenes costs and the time taken to provide such content is considerable.
If you have enjoyed our offerings please consider donating and supporting us. The help will allow us to make time to bring you more in the way of book publications, podcasts and videos about tradition-based Daoist, Chinese medicine and martial arts and help keep these traditions alive.
Your assistance is greatly appreciated!
