螳螂捕蟬，黃雀在後
Chinese
| praying mantis | to catch; to seize; to capture | cicada | Eurasian siskin | (located) at; in; exist (located) at; in; exist; (before verbs) immediately involved in; right in the middle of doing |
back; behind; rear back; behind; rear; afterwards; after; later | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| trad. (螳螂捕蟬，黃雀在後) | 螳螂 | 捕 | 蟬 | ， | 黃雀 | 在 | 後 | |
| simp. (螳螂捕蝉，黄雀在后) | 螳螂 | 捕 | 蝉 | ， | 黄雀 | 在 | 后 | |
| Literally: “the mantis catches the cicada, unaware of the siskin behind”. | ||||||||
Etymology
- 吳王欲伐荊，告其左右曰：「敢有諫者死！」舍人有少孺子欲諫不敢，則懷丸操彈，游於後園，露沾其衣，如是者再三。吳王曰：「子來，何苦沾衣如此！」，
- From: Shuoyuan, circa 1st century BCE
- Wú wáng yù fá jīng, gào qí zuǒyòu yuē: “Gǎn yǒu jiàn zhě sǐ!” Shè rén yǒu shào rúzǐ yù jiàn bùgǎn, zé huái wán cāo dàn, yóu yú hòu yuán, lù zhān qí yī, rú shì zhě zài sān. Wú wáng yuē: “Zǐ lái, hé kǔ zhān yī rúcǐ!”,
Duì yuē: “Yuán zhōng yǒu shù, qí shàng yǒu chán, chán gāo jū bēimíng, yǐn lù, bùzhī tángláng zài qí hòu yě; tángláng wěi shēn qū fù, yù qǔ chán, bùzhī huángquè zài qí páng yě; huángquè yán jǐng, yù zhuó tángláng, ér bùzhī dàn wán zài qí xià yě. Cǐ sān zhě jiē wù yù dé qí qián lì, ér bùgù qí hòu zhī yǒu huàn yě.”
Wú wáng yuē: “Shàn zāi!” Nǎi bà qí bīng. [Pinyin] - The king of Wu wanted to subdue the Chu state, and told the ministers: "whoever dares to remonstrate dies!" A young man wished to remonstrate with the king but did not dare. He had hidden a projectile in his bosom with a slingshot in hand, and when wandering in the backyard, the dew wet his clothes for a few days like this. The king of Wu asked “how did you wet your clothes hard like this?"
The young man replied: "there is a tree in the garden with a cicada on the tree. The cicada was standing at a high place wailing and drinking dew, ignorant of a praying mantis behind it; the praying mantis curled up close to the branch, bent its forelimbs, attempting to grab the cicada, ignorant of a siskin next to it; the siskin extended its neck to peck the mantis, ignorant of the slingshot and projectile underneath it. All three of them chased after their immediate benefits without considering the hidden dangers behind them."
The king of Wu said "good!”, thus suspending his plan of conquest.
對曰：「園中有樹，其上有蟬，蟬高居悲鳴、飲露，不知螳螂在其後也；螳螂委身曲附，欲取蟬，不知黃雀在其旁也；黃雀延頸，欲啄螳螂，而不知彈丸在其下也。此三者皆務欲得其前利，而不顧其後之有患也。」
吳王曰：「善哉！」乃罷其兵。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
吴王欲伐荆，告其左右曰：「敢有谏者死！」舍人有少孺子欲谏不敢，则怀丸操弹，游于后园，露沾其衣，如是者再三。吴王曰：「子来，何苦沾衣如此！」，
对曰：「园中有树，其上有蝉，蝉高居悲鸣、饮露，不知螳螂在其后也；螳螂委身曲附，欲取蝉，不知黄雀在其旁也；黄雀延颈，欲啄螳螂，而不知弹丸在其下也。此三者皆务欲得其前利，而不顾其后之有患也。」
吴王曰：「善哉！」乃罢其兵。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]
Pronunciation
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