During the Warring States period, cockfighting was a pleasure activity for nobles, and the King of Qi was a cockfighting fan at that time. In order to win on the chicken farm, King Qi specially invited an expert Ji to help him train chickens.

The king of Qi was eager to win, and after a few days, he sent someone to urge him. Ji Xunzi said, "A chicken is unruly. As soon as it sees its opponent, it is eager to try and can't hold its breath. "

A few days later, the King of Qi sent someone to ask, and Ji Xunzi said, "Not yet. It seems that the chicken does not move, but it is not calm enough. "

A few days later, Ji Xunzi finally said to the bearer, "Please tell the King of Qi that I have to hurry to train chickens." When it comes to cockfighting, the opponent's chicken barks and jumps, and the chicken trained by Ji Xiezi is like a wooden chicken, and there is no response at all. The other chickens were scared away when they saw its dull appearance. So the king of Qi used this chicken to fight with others and naturally won. Not to mention his happy appearance.

Later, people extended the idiom "stupefied" to be very stupid, and also described being in a daze because of fear or surprise.

to cast pearls before swine

During the Warring States Period, there was a musician named Gong, who could compose and play. He plays the lyre very well and plays wonderful music. Many people like to listen to him play the piano and people respect him very much.

Gong not only plays the piano indoors, but also likes to take the piano to the countryside when the weather is good. One day, he came to the suburbs, the spring breeze blew slowly, the weeping willows swayed gently, and a yellow cow was grazing on the grass. Gong was in a good mood. He played the piano and plucked the strings, and played the most elegant music for this cow-Clear Corner Exercise. The cows were indifferent there and still bowed their heads and ate grass.

Gong thought this piece of music might be too elegant, so he changed the tune and played a little song. The ox still didn't respond and continued to graze leisurely.

Gong Yiming took out all his skills and played the best music. This time, the cow occasionally wagged its tail, chased the gadfly, and still bowed its head and ate grass silently.

Finally, the cow left slowly. Go and eat grass somewhere else.

The public is always indifferent when they see cows, and they are very disappointed. People said to him, "Don't be angry! It's not that the music you play is not good, it's that the music you play is not good for cattle ears! " Finally, Gong sighed and went back with her piano. It's really boring

Later, people derived the idiom "play the lute to a cow" from this story, which means it is a waste of breath to reason with people who don't understand reason; It is also often used to laugh at people who talk without looking at objects.

3. Buy a gift and return it to the pearl

During the Spring and Autumn Period, there was a businessman in the State of Chu who specialized in selling jewelry. Once he went to Qi State to sell jewelry. For the sake of good business and best-selling jewelry, he specially made many small boxes with precious wood, which were beautifully carved and decorated, so that the boxes would give off a fragrance, and then put the jewelry in the boxes.

A man from Zheng saw the box containing the orb exquisite and beautiful. After asking the price, he bought one, opened the box, took out the treasure inside and gave it back to the jeweler.

4. Meng Mu moved three times.

Mencius was a great thinker in the Warring States Period. According to Saint Amethyst, "Meng Mu used to choose a neighbor. If you don't learn, you will break the loom. " Meng Mu moved three times to educate Mencius when he was a child, and he also cut cloth on the loom. What the hell is going on here?

It turned out that the famous Mencius lost his father from childhood and relied on his mother, Ni Shi, to spin yarn and weave cloth day and night, which provoked the burden of life. Ni is a hardworking and knowledgeable woman. She hopes her son will make progress in his studies and become a talent as soon as possible. But when I was a child, Monk was naughty and active and didn't want to study hard. He followed his neighbor's children all day to climb trees to catch birds, fish in the river and steal melons in the fields. Meng Mu began to scold and beat, and tried everything, but it was useless. Later, she felt that her son's poor study was related to the bad environment nearby, so she found a house with no naughty children in the community and moved there for the first time.

But after moving, Monk still couldn't sit still. One day, Meng Mu went to the river to wash clothes. When he came back, monk wiped the soles of his feet again. Meng Mu thought, there are no children here. Where will he go? I found a neighbor's yard, where there was a big stove, and several blacksmiths covered in oil were soldering iron. In the corner of the yard, Monk is making an anvil out of bricks and a hammer out of sticks, imitating the blacksmith's movements, and having a good time! Meng Mu thought the environment here was still bad, so he moved again.

This time, she moved her family to the wild, with no neighbors around, and the cemetery was outside the door. Meng Mu thought that there was nothing to attract his son here. He will always study hard! But in a blink of an eye, Tomb-Sweeping Day arrived, the cemetery became lively, and Mencius slipped out again. He saw a funeral procession in mourning, crying and carrying the coffin to the cemetery. Several lean boys dug up the grave with hoes and buried the coffin. He thought it was fun, so he imitated their movements, dug up the ground with branches, and seriously buried a twig as a dead man. It was not until Meng Mu found him that he was taken home.

Meng Mu moved for the third time. This time, there is a school next door, and a teacher with a gray beard is teaching a group of students, big and small. The teacher shakes his head and leads the students to learn every day. The slow voice seemed to be singing, and the naughty monk shook his head and began to read. Meng Mu thinks that his son likes studying, so he is very happy. He simply took two pieces of dried meat as tuition and sent Mencius to school.

But one day, Monk played truant again. Meng Mu was heartbroken when he found out. When Monk came back from playing enough, Meng Mu asked him, "How have you been studying recently?" Monk said, "Not bad." Meng Mu was furious and scolded, "You worthless thing, you have the nerve to lie after playing truant! I try to knit all day long for what! " With that, he grabbed his ear and dragged it to the weaving room, grabbed a pair of discerning scissors, and "wow", cut off all the cloth to be woven on the loom.

Monk was very scared. He didn't understand why his mother did it. Meng Mu threw the scissors and said sharply, "You play truant and don't study, just like cutting cloth, you can't knit it;" If you can't weave, you will have no clothes to wear; If you don't study hard, you will never become a talent. "

This time, Monk was really shocked. After thinking hard for a long time, he finally understood the truth and began to concentrate on reading. Because of his genius, he later learned from Confucius' grandson Zi Si and finally became the main representative of Confucianism.

5. The fact is just the opposite.

Originated from the Warring States policy Wei Ce-si.

During the Warring States period, the vassal states attacked each other and annexed each other, all vying for hegemony. On one occasion, Wei Wang Anli wanted to attack Handan, the capital of Zhao, and Liang Ji, the minister of Wang Wei, was on his way. Hearing the news, he hurried back. He had no time to smooth the wrinkles on his clothes and remove the dust from his head, so he went to persuade Wang Wei. He said to Wang Wei, "On my way back this time, I met a man who said he was going to Chu, but he soon drove his car to the north. I was surprised and asked him why he went to the Republic of China instead of going south, because Chu was in the south and not in the north. But he said, "My horse runs very fast." I said,' Your horse is fast, but this is not the way to Chu!' But he said,' I have a lot of travel expenses.' I told him again:' If the toll is too high and the direction is wrong, you can't go to Chu! Then he said, "My coachman is a good coachman. You see, the direction is wrong. The faster a horse runs, the more money it costs. At this rate, is it farther away from Chu? "

Then he told Wang Wei that the current king should be a famous overlord and his every move should be convincing. If he uses a large number of troops from his own country to attack Handan, so as to expand his land and establish his prestige, it will be farther and farther away from your ideal of being a vassal, just like the Chu people driving south to the north. How ridiculous! After listening to this, King Anli felt that what he said was reasonable and cancelled the plan to attack Zhao. Later, people called the behavior of the person who was going to Chu "the opposite direction", which was used to describe the behavior and practice that ran counter to the action and had the opposite purpose.

6. Eat your bread and taste your courage.

Originated from the special topic "Historical Records of the King of Yue Gou Jian's Family". During the Spring and Autumn Period, wuyue and China were adjacent to each other and often fought. On one occasion, the King of Wu led troops to attack the state of Yue, and was hit by Gu Ling, the general of Gou Jian, the king of Yue, and finally died of serious injuries. After the death of the King of Wu, his son Fu Cha succeeded to the throne. Three years later, Fu Cha led troops to attack Yue State to avenge his father.

In 497 BC, the two countries fought in Fujiao, and Wu won a great victory. Gou Jian, the King of Yue, was forced to retreat to Huiji. The prince of Wu sent troops to pursue and besieged Gou Jian on Huiji Mountain. The situation is very critical. At this time, Gou Jian listened to the doctor's tactics, prepared some gold and silver treasures and some beautiful women, sent someone to secretly give them to Wu Taizai, and pleaded with the king of Wu through Taizai, and finally agreed to the peace of the King of Yue Gou Jian. However, Wu Zixu of the State of Wu thought that he could not make peace with the State of Yue, otherwise it would be tantamount to releasing the tiger to the mountain, but the king of Wu would not listen.

After the surrender of Gou Jian, the King of Yue, he took his wife to Wu. They live in a stone house next to Focha's father's grave and raise horses. Every time he travels in Fu Cha, Gou Jian always follows him respectfully with a whip. Later, Fu Cha, the king of Wu, became ill. In order to show his loyalty to Fu Cha, Gou Jian personally tasted Fu Cha's stool to judge the date of Fu Cha's recovery. The date of Fu Cha's illness coincides with Gou Jian's prediction. Fu Cha thought Gou Jian was loyal to him, so he put him and his wife back in Yue. After returning to China, Gou Jian, King of Yue, was determined to avenge himself. In order not to forget the national humiliation, he slept on the firewood, and there was a gall hanging in the place where he sat, indicating that he did not forget the national humiliation and the national disaster. After ten years' accumulation, the State of Yue finally changed from a weak country to a strong one, and finally defeated the State of Wu, who committed suicide in shame. Later, people summed up this story as "lying on the table and tasting courage", which was used to describe people's efforts and self-motivation.

7. fickle

Liezi Huangdi

There was a man in the state of Song who liked to keep monkeys. People call him a sniper. Being a spy knows the mind of his monkey; The monkey understood what he said. Snipers often cut their family's rations to satisfy monkeys' appetite. Soon, the family is getting poorer and poorer, and it is bound to reduce the food for monkeys. But I was afraid that the monkey would not be satisfied, so I first discussed with the monkey: "I will give you three taro in the morning and four more in the evening." Is this enough? " "When the monkeys heard that their food was going to be reduced, they all stood up with twisted teeth and showed very angry expressions. Seeing this situation, the sniper immediately changed his mind and said, "I will give you four taro every morning and three more at night." Is that enough? "The monkey heard that it changed from three taro to four in the morning and thought it was an increase; I don't feel that the number of nights has been reduced from four to three, but actually it is still seven every day. They climbed the mountain together on the ground, showing a happy look.

From then on, later people extended that whenever they saw a person who was indecisive and always changed things, they said he was "fickle" according to this story.

8. Look at these flowers.

source

Tang Mengjiao after the exam.

In the past, there was not enough boasting, but now there is no limited grace; In the spring breeze, this proud horse runs at the speed of two beats. I visited all the sights of Chang 'an gracefully in one day.

translate freely

"Go", run. Look at the flowers on the running horse. The original description is pride and happiness. Now metaphor is not eager to observe things in depth and detail; Or metaphor without in-depth and detailed investigation and observation; Or a metaphor for a short experience of life at the grassroots level.

story

In the mid-Tang Dynasty, there was a famous poet Meng Jiao. He was born in poverty and was diligent and talented since childhood. However, his career has been very unsatisfactory. From youth to maturity, he failed several Jinshi exams. Although he is so poor that he can't afford to support his own family, he is honest and frank and refuses to take the door of power. He is determined to study hard and knock on the door of his career with his real talent and knowledge. In the 13th year of Zhenyuan in Tang Dezong (AD 797), Meng Jiao once again went to Beijing to take the Jinshi exam. This time, he was buried underground, and Meng Jiao was very happy. He put on brand-new clothes, tied ribbons and red flowers, rode on a burly horse and enjoyed the trip to Chang 'an. He was amazed by the beautiful scenery of Beijing, and he was extremely proud of the joy of being a high school scholar, so he wrote this famous poem "After Graduation":

Before, I didn't boast enough.

At present, there is no limited grace period;

Keywords spring breeze, horseshoe disease,

See all the Chang 'an flowers in one day.

This poem vividly shows the poet's joy after winning the Jinshi, in which "the spring breeze is proud of horseshoe disease, and Chang 'an flowers are seen in one day" has become a famous sentence throughout the ages.

9. Not a penny.

Heart and soul originated from Mencius. Mozi in the Warring States period was a representative figure of Mohism. He opposed the cruel war and advocated "universal love" and "non-attack". At that time, Yang Zhu was against Mozi, trying to oppose "universal love" and advocating "for me". One day, Mozi's student Bird Slip met Yang Zhu and asked rudely, "Would you like to pull out a hair on your body to benefit the whole world?" Yang Zhu shook his head and said, "The problems in the world can never be solved by one hair." Bird slide retorted, "this is just a hypothesis. If you can set the world by pulling out a hair, will you? " Yang Zhu kept silent after hearing this. Mencius criticized Yang Zhu for this matter: "Yang Zhu advocates' for me'. If pulling out a hair on his body is beneficial to the world, he will never do it; Mozi advocates' universal love' If it is good for the world, he will do it even if he shaves his head and wears his feet out. Later, people used "penniless" to describe a very selfish and stingy person.

10. Return to Zhao from the city wall.

Classic in Historical Records Biography of Lian Po and Lin Xiangru

During the Warring States period, Qin deceived Zhao, saying that he was willing to exchange 15 cities for the harmony of Zhao. King Zhao Huiwen dared not refuse, but he was afraid of being taken in by Qin. It turned out that Lin Xiangru, the minister of Zhao, volunteered to take Baoyu to the State of Qin and completed the task of changing the city. When he left, he said to the king of Zhao: "Enter Zhao and stay in Qin; If the city doesn't enter, I will go back to Zhao from the wall. " Later, Lin Xiangru went to the State of Qin to offer jade, but when he saw that the king of Qin had no intention of changing cities, he took the jade back from the king of Qin with his wit and courage, sent someone to find Zhao, and entered the palace to accuse the king of Qin of disloyalty. The king of Qin knew that the jade had returned to Zhao, so he had no choice but to send Lin Xiangru home.

Now people use the metaphor of "returning the whole wall to Zhao" to return the original work to its original owner intact.