the first part of this legend appears to be historical. in the earliest accounts, however, jie is more prideful than sad and is not killed in a fire. the 4th-century- commentary on confucius's "spring and autumn annals" traditionally credited to zuo qiuming includes a thucydidean passage where jie argues with his mother about their future. jie credits heaven with having restored chong'er to his rightful place and is disgusted by the credit-seeking and job-hunting behavior of his fellows, whom he considers worse than thieves. he also finds his lord unworthy for failing to reward him despite his failure to present himself at court. his mother asks him to at least go before the duke, but jie admits his bitter criticism of the other lords makes that impossibly embarrassing. his mother accepts his decision to withdraw to a hermitage and goes with him. ji chong'er belatedly remembers his obligations to jie and looks for him. when this proves vain, he accepts the situation and sets aside the produce of the fields of "mëenshang" to endow sacrifices in jie's honor, "a memento... of my neglect and a mark of distinction for the good man". other sources from the zhou and early han mention and praise jie for various reasons. the poems of the "songs of chu" extol him for his loyalty and proper treatment of his lord's forgetfulness. the "spring and autumn annals" compiled under lü buwei praises his altruism and lack of personal ambition. at some point before the composition of the han-era "biographies of the immortals", jie came to be revered as a taoist immortal.