Coix Seed Folktale

By Karen Ko

Edited by Andrew Miles

During the Eastern Han Dynasty, there was a brave and skilled general named Ma Yuan led the Han army in numerous military campaigns. On one occasion, Emperor Liu Xiu sent him to modern-day northern Vietnam to suppress a rebellion. The humid climate was rife with disease, which took a severe toll on Ma Yuan’s soldiers, many of whom were from northern China and not well adjusted to the climate. Many fell ill, leaving the general deeply worried. At that moment, a local farmer approached him and explained that the soldiers were suffering from the dampness, which could be cured by consuming coix seed. Ma Yuan thanked the traitor and immediately ordered his men to find coix seed and prepare porridge for the soldiers. To everyone’s amazement, the soldiers quickly regained their strength after consuming it, and they went on to win the battle. Impressed by the miraculous properties of coix seed, Ma Yuan decided to bring a cartload of it back to the capital to begin cultivating it. Ma Yuan was highly favored by the emperor but also envied by others. Some people saw him returning with a cartload of what they assumed to be treasures from the south. Since coix seed from the south were particularly large and pearl-like, rumors spread that Ma Yuan had secretly looted a cartful of valuable pearls and taken them home without offering them to the emperor. Enraged by the false accusations, Ma Yuan publicly dumped the entire cartload of coix seed into the river to prove his innocence. This event gave rise to the famous Chinese phrase “the slander of coix seed”, which is used to describe being falsely accused or wrongfully maligned.