Chinese Idiom Stories · chapter 1 of 6
Waiting for a Rabbit
守株待兔
A rabbit runs smack into a tree stump, and a farmer in the state of Song gets a free dinner. Now he has a brilliant plan: why work, when he can just wait?
Hear the chapter
Read what you hear
- Narrator 这个故事叫“守株待兔”。很久以前，宋国有一个农夫。
Zhège gùshi jiào “shǒuzhū dàitù”. Hěn jiǔ yǐqián, Sòngguó yǒu yí gè nóngfū.
This story is called “Guard the Stump, Wait for the Rabbit.” Long, long ago, in the state of Song, there lived a farmer.
- The farmer 好热，好累啊！我不想干活了。
Hǎo rè, hǎo lèi a! Wǒ bù xiǎng gànhuó le.
So hot, and so tired! I don't want to work anymore.
- The farmer 这里有个老树桩。我坐下休息一会儿。
Zhèlǐ yǒu gè lǎo shùzhuāng. Wǒ zuòxià xiūxi yíhuìr.
Here's an old tree stump. I'll sit down and rest for a bit.
- The farmer 啊，一只兔子！跑得太快了……
A, yì zhī tùzi! Pǎo de tài kuài le…
Oh, a rabbit! It's running much too fast…
- The farmer 它碰到了树桩……不动了！今天晚上有肉吃了！
Tā pèngdào le shùzhuāng… bú dòng le! Jīntiān wǎnshang yǒu ròu chī le!
It ran right into the stump… and it's not moving! There's meat for dinner tonight!
- The farmer 我回来了！你看，这是什么？
Wǒ huílái le! Nǐ kàn, zhè shì shénme?
I'm home! Look, what do you think this is?
- The farmer's wife 一只兔子！你在哪儿买的？
Yì zhī tùzi! Nǐ zài nǎr mǎi de?
A rabbit! Where did you buy it?
- The farmer 不是买的。它自己跑过来，碰到了树桩！
Bú shì mǎi de. Tā zìjǐ pǎo guòlái, pèngdào le shùzhuāng!
I didn't buy it. It came running along all by itself and crashed into a stump!
- The farmer 我想好了：明天不干活了，我去等兔子！
Wǒ xiǎng hǎo le: míngtiān bú gànhuó le, wǒ qù děng tùzi!
I've made up my mind. No more work from tomorrow. I'm going to wait for rabbits!
- The farmer's wife 等兔子？兔子会天天来吗？
Děng tùzi? Tùzi huì tiāntiān lái ma?
Wait for rabbits? You think a rabbit will come every day?
- The farmer 会！一天一只，我们天天有肉吃！
Huì! Yì tiān yì zhī, wǒmen tiāntiān yǒu ròu chī!
Of course! One a day, and we'll have meat every day!
- Narrator 从那天起，农夫天天守株待兔。一个月过去了。
Cóng nà tiān qǐ, nóngfū tiāntiān shǒuzhū dàitù. Yí gè yuè guòqù le.
From that day on, the farmer sat by the stump every day, waiting for rabbits. A month went by.
- The farmer's wife 喂！你又在这儿睡觉？
Wèi! Nǐ yòu zài zhèr shuìjiào?
Hey! Asleep out here again?
- The farmer 我没睡觉……我在等兔子。
Wǒ méi shuìjiào… wǒ zài děng tùzi.
I'm not asleep… I'm waiting for a rabbit.
- The farmer's wife 一个月了！你等来了几只兔子？
Yí gè yuè le! Nǐ děng lái le jǐ zhī tùzi?
It's been a month! How many rabbits has all that waiting got you?
- The farmer ……一只也没有。
…Yì zhī yě méiyǒu.
…Not a single one.
- The farmer's wife 你看看地里的草！家里也没有米了！
Nǐ kànkan dì lǐ de cǎo! Jiā lǐ yě méiyǒu mǐ le!
Look at all the weeds in the field! And there's no rice left at home!
- The farmer 那天兔子来了，明天也会来的！
Nà tiān tùzi lái le, míngtiān yě huì lái de!
A rabbit came that day, so one will come tomorrow too!
- The farmer's wife 它没看路，别的兔子会看路！大家都在笑你！
Tā méi kàn lù, biéde tùzi huì kàn lù! Dàjiā dōu zài xiào nǐ!
That one wasn't looking where it was going. The rest of them will be! Everyone is laughing at you!
- The farmer 兔子，兔子……你快来吧……
Tùzi, tùzi… nǐ kuài lái ba…
Rabbit, rabbit… hurry up and come…
- Narrator 一年过去了。兔子没有再来，地里都是草。
Yì nián guòqù le. Tùzi méiyǒu zài lái, dì lǐ dōu shì cǎo.
A year went by. No rabbit ever came again, and his field was nothing but weeds.
- Narrator 现在人们说“守株待兔”，意思是：不去做事，只想等好事自己来。
Xiànzài rénmen shuō “shǒuzhū dàitù”, yìsi shì: bú qù zuòshì, zhǐ xiǎng děng hǎoshì zìjǐ lái.
Today, when people say “guard the stump, wait for the rabbit,” they mean sitting back and waiting for good luck to come to you instead of working for it.
What changed in the story?
- Why does the farmer sit down by the old stump?
“好热，好累啊！我不想干活了。……我坐下休息一会儿。”
- How does the farmer get the rabbit?
“它碰到了树桩……不动了！”
- What does the farmer decide to do from then on?
“明天不干活了，我去等兔子！”
- After a month of waiting, how many rabbits has he caught?
“……一只也没有。”
- Why doesn't his wife believe more rabbits will come?
“它没看路，别的兔子会看路！”