Today we want to take a look at the story behind this Chengyu: 守株待兔 (shǒu zhū dài tù)
The literal translation of this Chengyu is to guard (守, shǒu) a tree trunk (株, zhū) waiting (待, dài) for rabbits (兔, tù) and means to want results without work or to rely on narrow experiences and not think generally.
But what has the tree and a rabbit to do with it? Let’s take a look at the story.
During the Song dynasty, there lived a hardworking farmer who was a little dense. Every day he would go down to his rice fields, striking the fertile soil with the sun on his back. He earned enough for a living, although a rather dull one. Once in a while he would rest under an old tree next to his cottage, wondering if his fate would ever change.
One day a rabbit came speeding by – a flash of white lightning whizzing past the field towards the tree. Then – BAM! – it hit the old tree and died on the spot. The farmer could hardly believe his eyes – a free meal! He swooped up the rabbit, skinned it, processed its meat for dinner and sold its fur for a big sum.
From that day onward, the farmer stopped farming. He sat cross-legged next to the tree day after day, waiting for rabbits. Confused neighbors would stop by once in a while and ask “Why?”, to which he always replied: “I’m waiting for dead rabbits!”
After several weeks, the farmer finally realized that no more silly rabbits would arrive. As he trudged away from the tree, the farmer saw his plots of dead crops full of weeds and rubble, realizing that he wasn’t much of a farmer anymore.
Post time: May-13-2020