Records of the Historian, Dawan Liezhuan

Kunmo's story belongs beside the steppe royal legends. A child is abandoned in the wild, fed by a bird and nursed by a wolf, taken as divine by the Chanyu, and raised into a war leader. Chinese diplomacy then reads him as the possible severing of the Xiongnu's right arm.

For the Scythian shelf, the value is comparative and historical: divine-child kingship, wolf nurture, western frontier power, and Han strategy all meet in one report.

The translation below is from the Classical Chinese text of the Dawan liezhuan.

Translation

After this, the Son of Heaven repeatedly questioned Zhang Qian about Daxia and the lands belonging to it. Since Qian had lost his marquisate, he spoke, saying: While I was among the Xiongnu, I heard that the king of Wusun is called Kunmo. The father of Kunmo was ruler of a small state on the western border of the Xiongnu. The Xiongnu attacked and killed his father, and Kunmo, newly born, was cast away in the wild. A crow held meat in its beak and flew above him; a wolf went to nurse him. The Chanyu marveled, considered him divine, and took him in to raise him.

When Kunmo grew strong, the Chanyu made him lead troops. He repeatedly gained merit, and the Chanyu restored to him the people of his father, ordering him to be a long-standing guard in the Western Regions. Kunmo gathered and nourished his people, attacked the small towns nearby, commanded tens of thousands who drew the bow, and became practiced in attack and war.

When the Chanyu died, Kunmo led his people far away, stood in independence, and would not attend the Xiongnu court assemblies. The Xiongnu sent picked troops to strike him, but they could not defeat him. They took him as divine and kept away from him; they held him only loosely as a subordinate and did not greatly attack.

Now the Chanyu has recently been troubled by Han, and the old land of Hunye is empty. The customs of the outer peoples are greedy for Han goods. If at this time we send rich gifts to Wusun, summon them eastward to dwell in the old land of Hunye, and join them to Han as brothers, their situation should make them listen. If they listen, this will cut off the right arm of the Xiongnu. Once Wusun is joined, Daxia and the other lands west of it can all be summoned to become outer ministers.

Colophon

This Good Works Translation was prepared for the Scythian shelf by the New Tianmu Anglican Church from the source text printed below. The English is an independent rendering from the source-language Chinese, with existing public translations used only as controls for difficult or conventional passages.

Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.

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Source Text: Shiji, Dawan Liezhuan, Kunmo

Classical Chinese source text from the Shiji. Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.

是後天子數問騫大夏之屬。騫既失侯，因言曰：「臣居匈奴中，聞烏孫王號昆莫，昆莫之父，匈奴西邊小國也。匈奴攻殺其父，而昆莫生棄於野。烏嗛肉蜚其上，狼往乳之。單于怪以為神，而收長之。及壯，使將兵，數有功，單于復以其父之民予昆莫，令長守於西（城）［域］。昆莫收養其民，攻旁小邑，控弦數萬，習攻戰。單于死，昆莫乃率其眾遠徙，中立，不肯朝會匈奴。匈奴遣奇兵擊，不勝，以為神而遠之，因羈屬之，不大攻。今單于新困於漢，而故渾邪地空無人。蠻夷俗貪漢財物，今誠以此時而厚幣賂烏孫，招以益東，居故渾邪之地，與漢結昆弟，其勢宜聽，聽則是斷匈奴右臂也。既連烏孫，自其西大夏之屬皆可招來而為外臣。」

Source Colophon

Classical Chinese text inspected from Chinese Text Project, Shiji, Dawan Liezhuan, paragraph 16. The English rendering above is newly prepared from the Chinese, with the CTP English display used only as a control.

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