From winter through summer the workers only returned home once. With your advanced years and the little strength that you have left, you cannot even destroy a blade of grass on the mountain, not to speak of its earth and stone. You are so obstinate that you do not use your reason. Even the widow and her little son do better than you. Though I die, my son lives on.
Sons follow sons and grandsons follow sons.
My sons and grandsons go on and on without end but the mountains will not grow in size. Zhisou of Hequ was bereft of speech. The god of the mountains who held a snake in his hand heard about this and was afraid that Yugong would not stop digging at the mountains. He reported the matter to the king of the gods who was moved by Yugong's sincerity. From that time onwards no mountain stood between the south of Jizhou and the southern bank of the Han River.