One day, Confucius led his disciples to the State of Chu. When crossing a stretch of forest, they saw a hunchbacked old man standing under a tree, catching cicadas with a bamboo stick. With each stroke he caught one cicada, just as easily as picking it up at will. Confucius asked: "You are very skillful at catching cicadas. You must have followed some pattern."
"That's right!”the old man answered. "The cicada is a clever little insect. It would fly away at themere rustling of leaves in the wind. Therefore, to catch cicadas, one must, first of all, train one's hand to hold the bamboo stick without shaking. When 2 pellets are put on the top of the bamboo stick and do not fall off, one has certain assurance in catching cicadas; when 3 pellets are put there and do not fall off, only one cicada out of ten can manage to escape; when 5 pellets are put there and do not fall off, then catching cicadas is as easy as picking them up at will."
He then added: "But that is not enough. One must be good at hiding oneself. Now I am standing under a tree, just like half of a tree stump, with my arm stretching out like part of awithered twig. Last of all, one must be attentive. When I am catching cicadas, I don't think at all of the vastness of the universe, nor do I look at the numerous things around. I only see the two wings of the cicada. No matter what happens, nothing will distract my attention. As I manage to accomplish all these, I can be so skillful at catching cicadas."
Hearing this, Confucius turned to his disciples and said: "Whatever you do, only when youpersevere with concentrated attention and devotion, can you achieve the acme of perfection. This is the truth that this hunchbacked old man has taught us."
According to legend, there was a kind of birds called "dais" (swallow) on the East China Sea.
The Yidais were slow in reaction. They could not fly very high and seemed clumsy andincapable.
But when they moved about, they always moved in groups, depended on one another for survival, and flew and landed together.
When they advanced, no one dared to advance rashly. When they retreated, no one dared to fall behind at will. When they fed, no one dared to scramble to be the first. All their activities were orderly.
When they went into action,万 dais always acted uniformly without any disorder. They depended upon the collective efforts to avoid any harm from the outside world.
Zhuang Zhou's family was poor. Once, he went to the official who supervised rivers to borrow some grain. The official said: "Well, wait until the end of the year when I collect the taxes from the people, then I will lend you 300 gold pieces. All right?"
When Zhuang Zhou heard this, he was so angry that the colow of his face changed. But he told the official this story: When I came here yesterday, on the way I heard a voice calling 'Help!' I turned my head and saw a small crucian carp in the dried-up carriage ditch."
I went over and asked: "Little crucian carp, why are you calling for help?"
The little crucian carp answered: "I am a subject of the Dragon King of the East China Sea. Unfortunately I fell down here. Can you give me a little water to save my life?"
I said: "All right, I am just going to the south to sell ideas to the kings of the States of Wu and Yue. I will ask them to stir up the water of the Xijiang River to welcome you. Will that do?"
When the crucian carp heard this, it got angry and said: "When I lose the water which is always with me, I cannot survive. Now, I want only a little bit of water so that I can survive.Yet you say such things. Then you'd better go to the salt-fish shop to look for me."
Once a man wanted to go to the south, but his carriage was heading north. A passer-by asked him: 'If you are going to the south, why is your chariot heading north? ' The man answered, 'My horse is good at running, my driver is highly skilled at driving a carriage, and I have enough money. ' The man didn't consider that the direction might be wrong; the better his conditions were, the further he was away from his destination.
The idiom derived from this story indicates that one's action was the opposite effect to one's intention.
寓言二:蚊子和公牛
The Gnat and the Bull
A GNAT settled on the horn of a Bull, and sat there a long time. Just as he was about to fly off, he made a buzzing noise, and inquired of the Bull if he
would like him to go. The Bull replied, "I did not know you had come, and I shall not miss you when you go away."
Some men are of more consequence in their own eyes than in the eyes of their neighbors.
A crow, ready to die with thirst, flew with joy to a pitcher which he saw at a distance. But when he came up to it, he found the water so low that with all his stooping and straining he was unable to reach it. Thereupon he tried to bread the pitcher, then to overturn it, seeing some small pebbles at hand, he dropped a great many of them, one by one, into the pitcher, and so raised the water to the brim, and quenched his thirst.
A BAT who fell upon the ground and was caught by a Weasel pleaded to be spared his life. The Weasel refused, saying that he was by nature the enemy of all birds. The Bat assured him that he was not a bird, but a mouse, and thus was set free. Shortly afterwards the Bat again fell to the ground and was caught by another Weasel, whom he likewise entreated not to eat him. The Weasel said that he had a special hostility to mice. The Bat assured him that he was not a mouse, but a bat, and thus a second time escaped.
A build Carpenter to come forward to advocate the use of bricks as a resist material; a carpenter decided to propose to the enemy using wood is the best method; a cobbler, stood up and said: "Gentlemen, I do not agree with your views and I think that as resist material, as no better than what Paper. "
这是说,人们都习惯于从自身角度考虑问题,总认为自己所熟悉的东西是最好的。
It is said that people are accustomed to from their own point of view, the view that they are familiar with what is the best.
寓言六:大力神与车夫
waggoner was once driving a heavy load on a very muddy road.
Suddenly the wheels of the wagon sank into the mire, and the horse could not pull them out.
The waggoner threw down his whip. He knelt down and prayed to Hercules. "Hercules, help me,please," he said.