Liu An, the Hunter Who Sheltered Liu Bei

Liu An, the Hunter Who Sheltered Liu Bei appears in a brief but devastating episode during Liu Bei’s displacement from Xuzhou. His attempt to honor the duties of a host becomes a sacrifice that horrifies Liu Bei, making the episode an extreme measure of the local people’s devotion to the wandering leader—and a stark reminder of the human cost concealed within that devotion.

Encounter During Liu Bei’s Flight

After Lü Bu sends Liu Bei’s family to safety in Xuzhou, Liu Bei is left effectively a refugee, accompanied by Sun Qian as he seeks to reach Cao Cao and continue their alliance. Their passage through villages brings them provisions from people eager to help. In this sequence, Liu An receives the two men into his home and offers to hunt fresh meat for them.

Hospitality and Sacrifice

Liu An cannot find game, but, desperate to keep his promise, he kills his wife and serves flesh from her body to his guests. When Liu Bei asks what they are eating, Liu An tells him it is wolf. The account presents the act as a consequence of Liu An’s determination to fulfill his offer, not as a choice Liu Bei knows about while he is being fed.

Discovery and Significance

The truth emerges only the following day, as Liu Bei and Sun Qian leave. They see the body of Liu An’s wife in the kitchen, and Liu Bei understands what the meal was. He weeps at the lengths Liu An went to in keeping his promise. The episode places an act of hospitality beside its terrible cost: the villagers’ generosity sustains Liu Bei in exile, but Liu An’s case turns that generosity into an irreversible loss. Liu An’s story ends with this revelation; the account provides no further details about his life or what happened to him afterward.