East of the city of Xiazhou stood a Mount Tai temple, much like the Eastern Peak branch shrines elsewhere; it had fallen into ruin with the years, and the locals planned to rebuild it. Xiazhou is rich in timber, but most of it grows far from the river; though one might afford to buy it, it could not quickly be hauled in.
In the winter of the guichou year of Shaoxing, one night a great wind and rain came, and from deep gullies fifty li away, as if a flood had burst, great timber — a thousand pieces and more — came floating, all bound into rafts, down the current, and stopped only when it reached just outside the city wall, with nothing to block it. The people jointly reported to the prefecture that this was a gift of the god, and asked to use it for the new temple.
They beat gongs at the temple gate to gather the crowd, and with ropes hauled the timber to an open place; the chosen craftsmen examined it and found that everything was provided, from the great ridge-beams down to the smallest rafters. The pieces that would serve as beams lay with root and tip on the ground and a hump in the middle; the pieces for pillars were full and straight; long or short, each fitted its use — and the bark had already been stripped, saving much labor.
All who saw it marveled, and testified to the unseen blessing, and none dared to cheat or hide the least part. Work began that very day; after some months the temple was completed, imposing, and became a grand sight of Yiling. Zhongzi, then serving as aide in the prefectural administration, saw it himself.
