后 稷 Hou Ji

 

  后  稷 Hou Ji

    后稷。名棄。母姜原。出野。見巨人跡。踐之而孕。期而生子。以為不祥。棄之隘巷。馬牛過者。避不踐。棄渠中冰上。飛鳥以翼覆薦之。姜原以為神。

遂收養之。因名棄。兒時好種樹麻菽。及成人。遂好耕農。相地之宜者稼穡焉。民皆則之。堯以為農師。天下得其利。(周本紀)

Hou Ji, whose name was Qi, was the earliest distant ancestor of the Ji family in the Zhou Dynasty. 

He was a native of Emperor Yao's time. 

His mother, Jiang Yuan, was the daughter of the You Tai family and the concubine of Emperor Ku Gaoxin.

    One day, Gao Xin led Jiang Yuan to a palace in the suburbs to worship the God of Bo and pray for an heir. 

Jiang Yuan saw the giant's footprints on the road and trampled on them. 

Suddenly he felt a shock all over his body. 

From then on, he became pregnant and gave birth to a son within one year of pregnancy. 

Due to the strange conception, Jiang thought it was an unlucky child and abandoned him in a small alley with few people. 

But when the cattle and horses passed by, they avoided trampling on him; 

they threw him on the ice in the ditch, and birds flew over to cover him with their wings to warm his body. 

When Jiang Yuan saw this, he thought he was a god, so he hugged him again. 

He came back to raise him and named him Qi.

    后稷，名叫棄，是周代姬氏最初的遠祖，帝堯時候人，他的母親姜原，是有邰(ㄊㄞˊ)氏之女，也是帝嚳(ㄎㄨˋ)高辛氏的正妃。

    一天，高辛氏率領姜原，到郊外某宮去祭祀禖神(ㄇㄟˊ古代求子的祭祀。)，祈求子嗣，姜原路見巨人足跡，踐踏而過，忽覺全身一震，從此就有了身孕，懷胎一年生下一子。

由於受孕奇異，姜原以為是個不吉祥的孩子，就把他丟棄在人跡很少的小巷子裡。

可是牛馬經過，都迴避不踐踏他；又把他丟在河溝中的冰上，群鳥飛來用翅膀遮蓋，溫暖他的身體，姜原見這情景，以為他是個神，於是又把他抱回來撫養，給他取名叫棄。

    棄在兒童時代，就喜歡種植芝麻，豆類等植物。長大以後，愛好耕種農作物。

他善能選擇肥沃土壤和地勢適宜的地方，種植五穀，當時人民都效法他。堯帝見他對農事有特殊才幹，就任用他為農師掌管農事，封他於邰地(今陝西省武功縣境)

，號稱為后稷。天下人民，因而得到農業的莫大利益。子孫沿襲他的官位，傳到十五代為周武王，後來伐紂成功，統一天下，歷史上稱為周朝。

(1)后稷擅長......

 ➊reading➋jumping➌farming

 

(2)abandon➊遺失➋丟棄➌找到

 

(3)giant's footprints

➊巨人腳印

➋小矮人手印

➌巨人手印

 

(4)后稷是哪一朝的始祖？

➊夏➋商➌周