1. There was once a doctor from Henan who settled in a farming village in Anhui Province.
2. Many years passed and the doctor gradually grew old.
3. To whom should I pass on the secret of this ancestral remedy?
4. Outwardly my apprentices all seem very good, but which of them is really the most sincere?
5. One day the doctor resolved to speak to his apprentices.
6. You have learnt everything I have to teach you, now each of you can go and set up on his own.
7. Oh, our master has cured so many people over the years, he must have saved up a lot of money.
8. Master, you have taught me your skills and now you are letting me set up my own practice. I would like you to come and live in my home where I can look after you and repay your kindness.
9. The doctor went to live with his eldest apprentice. One day the apprentice secretly looked through his teacher's baggage, but only found some leftover herbs.
10. He was very disappointed, and from then on paid the doctor scant attention.
11. Seeing that he was no longer welcome, the doctor went to the house of his second apprentice.
12. But when the second apprentice found out that the doctor had no money, he too treated him very coldly.
13. Heartbroken, the doctor sat all day by the roadside, sighing dejectedly.
14. Then his youngest apprentice came running to his side.
15. Master, come to my home.
16. I'm a loathsome old devil without a penny to my name. You won't get anything from me. Do you still want to take care of me?
17. "If someone has been your teacher for a day, you should respect him like a father all your life." It's only right that I should look after you.
18. From that day, forth, the doctor enjoyed a blissful old age.
19. One day he fell gravely ill. His apprentice was very worried, and tended him day and night as if he were his own father.
20. The old doctor was deeply moved.
21. The pills made from this herb are good for treating diseases of the bones and tendons, the liver and the kidneys. I am passing this secret on to you in the hope that you will use it well.
22. Not long after, the doctor passed away.
23. The apprentice did as his master had told him, using the remedy to good effect, and became a famous and respected doctor.
24. The root of the herb is shaped very much like the knee of an ox, and this is the origin of its Chinese name "ox knee."
Ox knee (Achyranthes bidentata)
Description: Squarish, greenish-purple stem with swollen joints shaped like an ox's knee. The root is white with six or seven shoots.
Properties: Bitter-sour taste, mild nature, non-toxic.
Effects: Relieves pain in joints, strengthens bones and tendons, eases knee pain.
@List.jpg?w=522&h=410&mode=crop&format=webp&quality=80)
