Once, when Zeng Shen went to the district of Fei, a man with the same name there committed a murder.
Someone went to tell Zeng Shen’s mother: “Zeng Shen has killed a man!”
”Impossible,” she replied. ”My son would never do such a thing.”
She went calmly on with her weaving.
After a while, someone else came to report: “Zeng Shen has killed a man.”
Still the old lady went on weaving.
Then a third man came to tell her: “Zeng Shen has killed a man!”
This time his mother was frightened. She threw down her shuttle and escaped over the wall.
For although Zeng Shen was a good man and his mother trusted him, when three men accused him of murder, much as she loved him she couldn’t but begin to doubt him.
Allegorical Meaning
This fable criticizes social contagion of falsehoods. It mirrors modern “illusory truth effect” — repeated hearsay overrides rational judgment. The mother’s eventual belief in the impossible (her morally impeccable son killing someone) shows how frequency trumps credibility in rumor propagation.
This story indicts the community’s complicity in weaponizing rumors. A lie needs no wings when society provides the wind.
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