A broken mirror joined together

During the Southern and Northern Dynasties (420-589), there lived a beautiful, intelligent princess name Lechang in the State Chen. She and her husband Xu Deyan loved each other dearly. But before long their country was in danger of being invaded by the troops of the Sui Dynasty. Princess Lechang and Xu Deyan had a premonition that their county would be occupied by the invaders and they would have to leave the palace and go into exile. During the chaos they might lose touch with each other. They broke a bronze mirror, a symbol of the unity of husband and wife into two parts and each of them kept a half. They aGREed that each would take their half of the mirror to the fair during the Lantern Festival, which is on the 15th day of the first Lunar month, in the hope that would meet again. When they were united the two halves would join together. Soon their premonition came true. During the chaos of war, the princess lost touch with her husband was taken to a powerful minister Yang Su's house and was made his mistress.

At the Lantern Festival the next year, Xu Deyan took his half of the mirror to the fair. He hoped that he could meet his wife. It so happened that a servant was selling the other half of the bronze mirror. Xu Deyan recognized it immediately. He asked the servant about his wife. As he heard about her bitter experience, tears rolled down his cheeks. Xu Deyan wrote a poem on the half of the mirror kept by his wife: You left me with your broken mirror Now the mirror is back but not you I can no longer see your reflection in the mirror Only the bright moon but not you .

the servant brought back the inscribed half of the mirror to princess Lechang. For days, she could not help sobbing because she knew her husband was still alive and that he missed her but they could not meet forever.

the minister, Yang Su, found this out. He was also moved by their true love and realized it was impossible to get Lechang's love. So he sent for Xu Deyan and allowed the husband and wife to reunite.

From that story comes the idiom A broken mirror joined together.

It is used to suggest the happy reunion of a separated couple.

【成语】： 破镜重圆

【拼音】： pò jìng chóng yuán

【解释】： 比喻夫妻失散或离婚后重新团聚。

【成语故事】：

南朝陈的乐昌公主与丈夫徐德言非常恩爱，本来过着幸福的生活。后来隋文帝派兵灭陈，徐德言便将镜子破成两半，一半自己收着，一半交给公主，并和她约好，如他们分散了，就在每年的元宵节，拿镜子到市场上去卖，以求有重逢的机会。后来，将军杨素虏去乐昌公主，使他们夫妇分散了。到了元宵节，公主派老仆拿镜子去市场上卖，结果真的遇到了徐德言。杨素被他们两夫妇的真情感动，便将公主还给徐德言，夫妇终于能够团圆。

转载请注明：成语故事 » 英语成语故事带翻译：破镜重圆