(Clearwisdom.net)
One year, during the Donghan dynasty, while Zhang was emperor, the Quanjun area in Henan province sufferend from heavy locust swarms. Only Zhongmou County was not affected. When Henan Province's top Official Yuan An heard about this, he immediately sent one of his staff members to conduct an investigation in Zhongmou county.
The county head, Lu Mu, accompanied the staff member to investigate. Sure enough, they didn't find any locusts, and the crops were growing well. When the staff member and Lu Mu were taking a break under a tree, they saw a wild grouse land beside a child. The staff member, curious, asked the child: "Why did you not catch it?" the child replied: "because the chicken is about to have chicks, I pity it."
The staff member went back and reported to Yuan An, saying: "Locusts won't enter Zhongmou County because its people's compassion reaches the animals. Little children have good hearts. These make Zhongmou County different from any other place."
Originally posted on April 29th, 2003