Describes the formidable power of rumors; even a mother, initially confident in her son's innocence, eventually believes a false accusation after hearing it repeated many times.
Era:
Ancient
Frequency:
Synonym:
Story:
During the Spring and Autumn period, in the State of Lu, there was a man who shared the same name as the great philosopher Zeng Shen. This other man committed a murder.
A busybody ran to Zeng Shen's mother and exclaimed, 'Zeng Shen has killed someone!' Zeng's mother replied, 'My son would not kill anyone,' and continued her weaving as usual.
Not long after, another person came again to falsely report that Zeng Shen had killed someone. At this point, Zeng's mother became frightened, threw her weaving shuttle, and climbed over the wall to flee.