They carved no grand epitaph. They simply placed a single stone at his head, upon which someone had scratched four small characters:
"If you harm this man," Gao said quietly, "I will walk to Chang’an and present this token to the throne. I will tell the Son of Heaven how his captain tortures peasants and hunts hungry ghosts." tang dynasty good man
That night, the corrupt governor’s men arrived. They were hunting the deserter. They kicked down the door of Gao’s hut and found the soldier hiding beneath the altar where Gao kept his ancestor tablets. They carved no grand epitaph
Gao looked at the man’s hollow eyes. "I have no horse," he said. "But I have half a bowl of millet porridge and a blanket woven from nettles. You are welcome to both." They were hunting the deserter
"Hand him over, gravekeeper, or we will bury you ."
And the wind, passing over the graves of emperors and poets alike, paused longest at that stone.
The soldier refused, but Gao closed the man’s fist around the jade. "I have no family," Gao said. "My grave will be dug by strangers. But if you live one honest day because of this token, then I will have left a mark deeper than any tombstone."