One Idiom a Day: Chinese Wisdom in Stories

During the Spring and Autumn Period (around 770 BC), the King of Wu was planning to attack the State of Chu. He was determined to go to war and warned his ministers: “Anyone who tries to stop me will be put to death!”

Naturally, none of his ministers dared to speak.

But a young attendant named Shao Ruzi wanted to change the king’s mind. He knew it would be dangerous to advise him directly, so he came up with another idea.

For three mornings in a row, Shao Ruzi walked around the palace garden carrying a slingshot. Each morning, he stayed outside so long that the dew soaked his clothes.

The King of Wu noticed this and became curious.

“Why do you keep walking around the garden every morning? Your clothes are soaked. What are you doing?”

Shao Ruzi saw his chance and told the king a story.

There was a tree in the garden, and high on one of its branches sat a cicada.

The cicada was drinking the morning dew, completely unaware that a mantis was hiding behind it, ready to strike.

The mantis slowly raised its front legs, focused entirely on catching the cicada.

But the mantis didn’t realize that an oriole was watching from nearby, stretching out its neck and preparing to eat it.

The oriole had its eyes fixed on the mantis.

But it didn’t notice that beneath the tree stood a young man with a slingshot aimed directly at it.

The cicada, the mantis, and the oriole were all focused on what they wanted right in front of them.

None of them saw the danger waiting behind.

As soon as Shao Ruzi finished the story, the King of Wu understood what he was trying to say.

If Wu focused only on attacking Chu, the State of Yue might take advantage of the situation and attack Wu from behind.

The king realized that he could become just like the oriole—so focused on catching its prey that it failed to notice the danger behind it.

“Excellent,” said the king.

And he abandoned his plan to attack Chu.

This story gave rise to the famous Chinese saying:

Tángláng bǔ chán, huáng què zài hòu
The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.

It reminds us that when we focus too much on an immediate gain, we may fail to see a much greater danger approaching from behind.

Sometimes, while you’re watching your prey, someone else is watching you.