A Chinese Biographical Dictionary/Yüeh

by Herbert A. Giles

2574 Yüeh 說 or Fu Yüeh 傅月. 14th cent. B.C. A sage of antiquity, who was so poor that when the roads had been destroyed by a flood and a gang of convicts was set to repair them, he actually hired himself out to work in their stead so as to earn his daily food. His existence was revealed in a dream to the Emperor 武丁 Wu Ting of the Yin dynasty, and that monarch circulated a portrait of him throughout the empire. He was ultimately discovered among the convicts, and raised to the post of Prime Minister.