This is the story of a lady who gave away the clues.

The queen of Bigfoot Zhu Yuanzhang, nicknamed Zhu Yuanzhang's wife, Zhu Yuanzhang was born in a poor family since childhood. When she was young, she was sent to a temple as a monk. When she came of age, she married the farmer Ma Shi.

At that time, women had to bind their feet, while horses had to work in the fields since childhood, so they were born with big feet without binding their feet.

After Zhu Yuanzhang proclaimed himself emperor, although she felt that Ma's big feet were detrimental to her face, she was named the first queen of the Ming Dynasty out of gratitude for Ma's contribution to her advice over the years.

Ma became a queen, lived in the palace, enjoyed all the splendor, but also felt helpless about his big feet. Whenever he meets guests, he always covers his feet with the hem of his clothes or skirt.

On one occasion, the horse took a sedan chair to play in the streets of Jinling (now Nanjing). Suddenly, a strong wind blew and lifted a corner of the sedan chair curtain. The horse's two big feet on the pedal were exposed in broad daylight, and she quickly shrank back, but people had already seen it clearly!

So this new thing spread and caused a sensation in the whole capital. Because it was the horse that showed his feet, the word "showing his feet" has spread to today. Therefore, it is called "showing the cloven foot" to expose disgraceful things that are inconvenient to make public.

Ma Hou is a martial artist, so there is no foot binding. She is an all-rounder in civil and military affairs.

However, the article Textual Research on "Leaking Clubs" denies this statement:

There is a saying in the anonymous Song Yuan's "Chen Zhou's Rice": "This old man is not easy to provoke, and he is always ready to chop it up before smelling it, lest we give away the clues." Back in the Song Dynasty, we can even find the phrase "show the donkey's feet". The Legend of Continuing Lights in the Northern Song Dynasty, Volume 20: "After that, the wind started and the volume was full of righteousness. It is difficult to hide a bergamot, but the donkey's feet are exposed. " These are two convincing documentary evidences. Based on this, it can be asserted that the word "showing the cloven foot" never originated from Ma Huanghou, but has different origins.

There is a sentence in Lu Xun's article that "reveals the clues under the skin of Kirin". It seems that Mr. Wang understands its origin. In fact, "showing the cloven foot" is related to the ancient game of using horses (or donkeys) to pretend to be Kirin.

Kirin, together with dragons, phoenixes and turtles, is also known as the "Four Spirits", which is the auspicious beast and the benevolent beast in the eyes of the ancients. When celebrating or offering sacrifices in ancient festivals, there is often an activity: putting painted and dressed Kirin skins on horses (donkeys) to play games. It is naturally difficult to wrap the bag tightly, but once it is not tight, the truth will come out. This kind of activity existed in the Tang Dynasty, but most of them were dressed as donkeys. In the Tang Dynasty, Feng Zhi's Miscellanies of Yunxian County quoted Zhang's Records of the Ruling and Opposition: "Every time the Tang Dynasty called the courtiers the last queen of Kirin, or asked them,' Whoever forges a unicorn today must change its shape. On the donkey, it looks like a foreign body, and it's also a donkey's ear. Without virtue, you lose your purple. Why is it different? ""Finally, the toe cap is planted and the wooden model is stuffed in the shoe. This refers to the donkey wrapped in unicorn skin, which means a shallow person. In the Song Dynasty, horses were often used to dress up Kirin. Huang Tingjian's poem "Editing with Liu Qianfu, Reading Recent Newspaper, Jiang Yi Being Fired" says: "The canal shines on the unicorn tree, and my generation sings in Gao Teng." Others only praise their looks and literary talent, and our generation just works tirelessly like horses. )

The expression "revealing the clues" should come from this.

So there is also a saying that such a game gives the cloven foot.