A4.1|2
Hou Ji of Zhou was named Qi (弃). His mother was a daughter from the Youtai clan, named Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan was the principal wife of Emperor Ku. Jiang Yuan went out in the wild and saw giant footprints. She was delighted and wanted to step on them. When she stepped on them, something inside of her body moved like she was pregnant. After a while, she gave birth to a son. She thought it was a bad omen, so she abandoned him in a narrow alley. Horses and cattle passing by avoided him and did not step on him. She moved him to a forest. There happened to be many people in the forest at that time, so she moved him again and abandoned him on the ice in a canal, and a flying bird covered him with its wings and cushioned him. Jiang Yuan thought he was amazing like a god, so she took him home and raised him. She wanted to abandon the child at first, so she named him Qi (弃), the Abandonment.
When Qi was a child, he had the ambition to be a giant. His games included planting hemp and beans, which were beautiful. When he grew up, he became interested in farming. He selected the land for its suitability and planted crops where it was suitable for growing grains. The people followed his example. Emperor Yao heard about this and appointed Qi as a farming teacher. The whole world benefited from his work and he was credited with great achievements. Emperor Shun said, "Before Qi the people were hungry, and then it all changed since Hou Ji sowed the crops." In a sense, Hou Ji means recent agriculture. He granted Qi a fiefdom in Tai and named him Hou Ji, with the surname Ji. Hou Ji’s rising to prominence was during the reigns of the Yao Tang (陶唐), You Yu (有虞), and Xia Hou (夏后), and he was virtuous.
司马迁·史记卷四·周本纪第四
周后稷，名弃。其母有邰氏女，曰姜原。姜原为帝喾元妃。姜原出野，见巨人迹，心忻然说，欲践之，践之而身动如孕者。居期而生子，以为不祥，弃之隘巷，马牛过者皆辟不践；徙置之林中，適会山林多人，迁之；而弃渠中冰上，飞鸟以其翼覆荐之。姜原以为神，遂收养长之。初欲弃之，因名曰弃。
弃为儿时，屹如巨人之志。其游戏，好种树麻、菽，麻、菽美。及为成人，遂好耕农，相地之宜，宜谷者稼穑焉，民皆法则之。帝尧闻之，举弃为农师，天下得其利，有功。帝舜曰：“弃，黎民始饥，尔后稷播时百谷。”封弃于邰，号曰后稷，别姓姬氏。后稷之兴，在陶唐、虞、夏之际，皆有令德。
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