What are the traditional fables and their truths?

1. Pulling Up Seedlings to Help Them Grow

There was a man in the state of Song who was worried that his seedlings would not grow tall enough and pulled them upward. He was very tired but contented at the end of the day, and came back home and said to his family, "But I'm exhausted, and I'm helping the seedlings grow taller!" When his son heard of this he hurried to the field to see how the seedlings (were doing), yet they were all withered.

There are very few people in the world who do not want their seedlings to grow faster! He who gives up on his seedling because he thinks it is useless to grow it is like a lazy man who does not hoe his seedling. He who presumes to help it grow is like this man who pulls up the seedling, and instead of benefiting it, harms it.

2. A Zheng Man Buys Shoes

Once upon a time there was a Zheng man who wanted to go and buy a new pair of shoes, so he measured the size of his feet beforehand, and then put the measured size on his seat. When he arrived at the bazaar, he forgot to bring the size with him. After picking out the shoes, he realized, "I forgot to bring the size." So he returned home to get the size. By the time he returned to the bazaar, it had dispersed, and he ended up not getting the shoes.

Someone asked, "Why don't you try the shoes on your own feet?" He replied, "I would rather trust the measured size than my own feet."

3. Wearing a well to get a man

A Ding family in the State of Song had no well at home, and needed to go out to a faraway place to fetch water to water their fields; one of the family members was sent to fetch the water, and often one of the family members stayed outside. When the time came for his family to drill a water well, Ding told others, "My family got a man for drilling a water well." Those who heard it went and spread the word, "Ding's digging of the well has gained a man."

The people of the capital city talked about this, so that the ruler of the state of Song knew about it. When the ruler of the state of Song sent a man to ask Ding for clarification, Ding replied, "Saving the labor of an idle man is not digging a living person in a well." It is better not to hear such rumors.

4, engaging arrowhead method

The end of the Sui Dynasty there was a man named Zan Junmu who was good at archery, shooting arrows with his eyes closed, saying that he would shoot wherever he wanted to shoot the eyes, and shooting the mouth if he wanted to shoot the mouth.

Wang Lingzhi learned archery from Muo, and thought he had reached a fine (精妙的) skill in archery, and wanted to shoot Zan Junmu and enjoy this reputation alone. Zan Junmu held a short sword and cut it off when an arrow came. There was only one arrow, and Zan Junmu caught it with his mouth open, and surprisingly bit off the arrow, and said with a smile, "(You) have studied archery for three years, and fortunately you have not been taught the method of biting off arrows."

5. A cat wishes a rat a long life

A man from Zhao had a rat infestation in his house and went to Zhongshan to look for a cat. The man from Zhongshan gave him the cat. The cat was good at catching both rats and chickens. After a month or so, there were fewer rats and no more chickens. His son was worried and said to his father, "Why don't you get rid of the cat.

His father said, "That's what you don't know. It is the rats I am afraid of, not the lack of chickens. With rats, they will eat my grain, ruin my clothes, penetrate my walls, and gnaw my utensils, and I will be hungry and cold, and will not the harm be greater than if there were no chickens? There is no chicken, only no chicken, and it is a long way from being hungry and cold, so why should I get rid of the cat?"