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守株待兔 (shou3 zhu1 dai4 tu4) - Hare-brained
By Zhang Ciyun |
September 21, 2008, Sunday
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Print Edition
Although almost everyone has heard of the saying "no pain, no gain," there are always people who tend to trust chance and wait for windfalls.
Chinese often describe such behavior by quoting the idiom (shou3 zhu1 dai4 tu4) or "standing by a tree stump to wait for a hare to crash into it."
The expression is derived from a story a long time ago.
One day, a farmer in the State of Song was laboring in the fields when he saw a hare running past him, dashing itself into a tree stump a few yards away. The hare passed out immediately upon the impact.
The farmer walked over, picked up the godsend gift of food and was overjoyed. He decided to call it a day, though the sun was still high.
He prepared a tasty dish from the hare for dinner and after a few shots of wine, he became a little tipsy.
He thought aloud: "If I can pick up one hare a day, I wouldn't need to sweat in the fields any more. The stump on my plot must be the blessed place to wait for windfalls."
So, starting the next day, the farmer stopped tending his crops and did nothing but waited by the tree stump for more hares to come by and knock themselves out.
Several days passed, no hare appeared. Meanwhile, the field had quickly become overgrown, and the farmer soon became a laughing stock all across the state.
Even today, people still laugh at the ancient farmer for believing that a one-time windfall would turn into a regular supply. However, almost everywhere around the world, one can still find disciples of this Song farmer.
And in addition to its original meaning of "waiting for windfalls," it has also taken on a connotation of being trapped in an inflexible mind set and lacking innovation.
Chinese often describe such behavior by quoting the idiom (shou3 zhu1 dai4 tu4) or "standing by a tree stump to wait for a hare to crash into it."
The expression is derived from a story a long time ago.
One day, a farmer in the State of Song was laboring in the fields when he saw a hare running past him, dashing itself into a tree stump a few yards away. The hare passed out immediately upon the impact.
The farmer walked over, picked up the godsend gift of food and was overjoyed. He decided to call it a day, though the sun was still high.
He prepared a tasty dish from the hare for dinner and after a few shots of wine, he became a little tipsy.
He thought aloud: "If I can pick up one hare a day, I wouldn't need to sweat in the fields any more. The stump on my plot must be the blessed place to wait for windfalls."
So, starting the next day, the farmer stopped tending his crops and did nothing but waited by the tree stump for more hares to come by and knock themselves out.
Several days passed, no hare appeared. Meanwhile, the field had quickly become overgrown, and the farmer soon became a laughing stock all across the state.
Even today, people still laugh at the ancient farmer for believing that a one-time windfall would turn into a regular supply. However, almost everywhere around the world, one can still find disciples of this Song farmer.
And in addition to its original meaning of "waiting for windfalls," it has also taken on a connotation of being trapped in an inflexible mind set and lacking innovation.
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