WÁNG Póu 王裒 lived in the state of Wèi 魏 at the time of the Three Kingdoms (Sānguó 三国) (period 07). He was the son of Wáng Yì 王逸, who served under Sīmǎ Zhaō 司马昭, the father of the first emperor of the Jìn 晋 dynasty (period 08). Unfortunately, Wáng Póu’s father was executed, and Wáng Póu, although a noted scholar, vowed never to serve in an official post under the Jìn government.
However, despite his self-enforced poverty, he served his mother with great filiality. When she was alive, she was afraid of thunder. After she died she was buried on a wooded hillside. Whenever there was wind and rain and Wáng Póu would hear the loud sound of thunder like the passing of the chariot of the thunder-goddess Āxiāng 阿香, he would dismiss his students and hurry to the grave and kneel and pray. He would weep, saying: “Póu is here; Mother must not be afraid.” It is said that whenever in class his students read a text about filial piety, Wáng Póu would weep.
Some people say that one day he had a dream of his mother and father together, and his mother told him that he no longer needed to visit her grave, for she was now safe with his father and no longer feared lightning and thunder, and he so he stopped visiting the grave and devoted himself to scholarly studies.