Chinese Idiom Stories

Meet the voices

• Narrator · 旁白 — Tells six very old stories the way a grandfather tells them by the fire, and always ends with the idiom each one gave the Chinese language.
• The farmer · 农夫 — A farmer in the state of Song who hates hard work and loves a lucky break.
• The farmer's wife · 妻子 — The farmer's wife, who does the real work and says exactly what she thinks.
• A Da · 阿大 — A young servant in the state of Chu who draws fast and loves to show off.
• A Er · 阿二 — His fellow servant: slower with a drawing stick, but he knows exactly what a snake looks like.
• The fox · 狐狸 — A small, sly fox who talks fastest when he is in the most trouble.
• The tiger · 老虎 — The biggest, hungriest animal in the mountains, and easier to fool than he looks.
• The frog · 青蛙 — A small frog who is sure his old well is the best place in the world.
• The sea turtle · 海龟 — A big old turtle from the East Sea, kind, patient and in no hurry at all.
• The shepherd · 牧羊人 — A young shepherd with ten sheep and a broken fence he would rather fix tomorrow.
• The old neighbor · 邻居爷爷 — The old man next door, who has seen plenty of wolves and plenty of broken fences.
• The seller · 小贩 — A market seller in the state of Chu with a big voice and even bigger promises.
• The young man · 年轻人 — A young man in the crowd who listens carefully and asks one small question.

6 chapters, one journey

Key words in Chinese Idiom Stories

• 井 jǐng: well
• 蛇 shé: snake
• 大海 dà hǎi: sea
• 酒 jiǔ: wine
• 补 bǔ: to repair
• 画 huà: to draw
• 买 mǎi: to buy
• 碰到 pèng dào: to run into
• 深 shēn: deep
• 睡觉 shuì jiào: to sleep

Behind the story

Chengyu (成语) are set phrases, most of them four characters long, and many carry a whole story inside them. Say 守株待兔, “guard the stump, wait for the rabbit,” and a Chinese listener pictures a farmer dozing beside a tree stump. Children meet these stories at primary school, and adults drop the idioms into everyday talk.

The six stories in this book were written down more than two thousand years ago. The philosopher Han Fei told the farmer's tale and the spear and the shield in the Han Feizi (韩非子). The frog and the sea turtle come from the Zhuangzi (庄子). The snake with legs, the fox and the tiger, and the old saying about the sheep pen are from the Strategies of the Warring States (战国策). Their writers used little fables like these to win arguments, often in front of kings.

Did you know?

• The everyday word 矛盾 (máodùn), “contradiction,” is literally “spear-shield.” It comes from the seller's boast in chapter 6.
• In its oldest version, the fox and the tiger is told to a king of Chu who wondered why his neighbors feared one of his ministers. The answer: they really feared the king's army behind him.
• You can read a chengyu character by character: 画蛇添足 is “draw snake, add feet,” and 井底之蛙 is “well-bottom frog.”