the wily hare has three holes to his burrow(jiǎo tù sān kū)

the wily hare has three holes to his burrow

Cunning rabbit three caves, Chinese idiom, Pinyin is Ji ǎ ot ù s ā NK ū, which means that cunning rabbit has prepared several hiding places. It refers to many hidden places or methods. It comes from the fourth chapter of Qi CE in the Warring States period.

Idiom usage

Jianchai said: "you ~, what is it?" Pu Songling's Liao Zhai Zhi Yi Shao Jiu Niang in Qing Dynasty

The origin of Idioms

In the fourth chapter of Qi CE in the Warring States period, it is said that there are three caves for cunning rabbits, only to avoid their dead ears

Idiom story

Story one

During the Warring States period, the Prime Minister of the state of Qi, mengchang Jun, asked his guest Feng Yuan to collect the debt from Xuedi and buy what he lacked at home. Feng Yuan burned all the debt contracts under the command of mengchang Jun, and the people who borrowed money were very grateful to mengchang Jun. Feng Yuan came back and said, "there are three caves for cunning rabbits, only to avoid their dead ears. Now you have one cave, but you don't have to sleep in it." In the spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period, the important ministers of some countries liked to make friends with and adopt all kinds of people with certain skills to be his "door guest" and give him advice, so as to improve their reputation and maintain and consolidate their status. This practice became popular for a while. For example, Mencius of Qi, Xinling of Wei, Chunshen of Chu and Pingyuan of Zhao adopted a lot of disciples, who were called "four CHILDES". Here we tell you the story of mengchang king of Qi. His name is Tian Wen, the son of Tian Ying. Tian Ying served as an assistant general in the battle of Maling under the command of Sun Bin. Because of his meritorious service in the battle, the state of Qi granted him the title of Xue Gong (now Southeast of Tengzhou, Shandong Province). After Tian Ying died, Tian Wen inherited his father's official position and fiefdom and was known as mengchang king. Mengchang knew that it was necessary for him to adopt a large number of disciples and gain the support of many people in order to gain fame and consolidate his position. So he searched everywhere for talents, regardless of the rank, as long as he had a skill, he treated them as guests. In this way, his reputation of admiring sages spread slowly. Some heroes from other countries, and even some escaped prisoners, came to him and took him as their confidants and friends to work for him. Once, a man named Feng Yuan came to mengchang. Seeing that he was dressed in rags, straw sandals, and a sword tied around his waist, he knew that he was a poor man, so he asked him, "what do you think of me, sir?" Feng Yuan said, "I'm too poor to live. I'll come to you for a meal." "What do you have?" "I have nothing." Mr. mengchang laughed and said, "then you can stay first." Mengchangjun's people looked down on Feng Yuan because he was so poor and incompetent. They arranged him to live in a inferior room and gave him coarse food every day. A few days later, mengchang asked, "what's that Feng Yuan doing?" He answered, "he plays that sword every day and sings while playing it. Let's go back, sword. There's no fish and shrimp here." Mengchangjun felt that he had no face when he heard this, so he asked people to move Feng Yuan to a medium-sized room and give him fish and shrimp to eat. Not many days later, Feng Yuan sang again: "sword, let's go back. There are no cars and horses to go out here." Someone reported this to Mr. mengchang, who told him to give him another set of chariots and horses. But before long, someone came back and said, "Feng Yuan is still singing every day. Let's go back, sword. We can't support our family without money." Mengchang was very angry and thought, how can this poor man be so unsatisfied. However, in order to attract more people, he often sent people to send money to Feng Yuan's old mother. Feng Yuan doesn't play or sing any more. After a year, mengchang became more and more famous and became the Prime Minister of Qi. By this time, there were 3000 of his guests. How much does it cost to support such a large group of people! Although he earns a lot, he can't afford it. After thinking about it, he decided to send someone to collect it. It's a thankless job to collect debts. You have to understand a set of accounting business. No one is willing to go and ask Mr. mengchang to do it. Some people recommended Feng Yuan, saying: "this guy is tall and can speak very well. If he has no other skills, he may be able to collect debts." Mengchangjun called Feng Yuan and said to him, "I'm usually too busy to take care of my husband. Please forgive me. Would you please go up to Xuecheng and collect my debt for me? " Feng Yuan readily agreed: "OK, I'll go." So I prepared the train, packed up, took the bonds, and set out. Before he left, he asked mengchang, "after the debt is collected, do you want to buy something back?" Mr. mengchang said, "you can buy what my family lacks." When Feng Yuan arrived in Xuecheng, the more affluent people came to pay back the profits, and the poor people who could not pay their debts had already disappeared. With the money he collected, Feng Yuan bought a few big fat cows and a dozen jars of fine wine, held dozens of banquets, invited all creditors to drink, and informed him that whatever he could afford, he would come. It didn't matter if he couldn't, just check the bonds. On the day of the party, the creditors all came, and Feng Yuan warmly entertained them. After drinking, Feng Yuan checked the bonds one by one with the creditors and asked them about the situation. Those who can make profits at that time will accept their money; those who have no money at the moment will make an appointment to repay them; those who are too poor to pay will simply take back their bonds and burn them in front of everyone. Creditors are really surprised and happy to see it. They don't know what's going on. At this time, Feng Yuan stood up and said, "we mengchang Jun lent money to you, because we all have no capital for farming and business, and it's hard to survive. Originally, he didn't want to collect profits, but he had a large group of disciples to support, so he asked me to collect profits. Now that I have checked the bonds, I have paid all that I can pay. If I have no money for the time being, I have agreed on the time limit for return. Please pay on time. If I really can't afford the interest, Mr. mengchang said, I'll give you even the principal and interest. So I burned all these people's bonds. This is the grace of mengchang. Don't forget it, everyone They all cheered and were very grateful for the kindness of mengchang. When Meng Changjun heard the news that Feng Yuan burned the bonds, he was infuriated. He immediately sent someone to call Feng Yuan back and angrily scolded him: "well, I want you to collect the interest. When you collect the money, you will kill cows, buy wine, hold a banquet and burn the bonds. What are you doing? " Feng Yuan calmly replied, "don't worry, young master! Please think about it. How can you get all the creditors without a banquet? If the creditors don't come, how can they know who can afford the profits and who can't? Now, if you can afford it, you have set a time limit, and you will be able to hand it in when it is due. What he can't afford is that in ten or eight years, he still can't afford it. In a hurry, he simply ran to other places. What's the use of those bonds? If you force them, you will not get much money and get a bad reputation. Is it worthwhile? I burned these useless bonds to make the people of Xuecheng appreciate you and praise you everywhere. Isn't that a good thing? When I was leaving, you asked me to bring back what you lacked. I don't think you are short of gold and silver, delicacies and delicacies, but you are short of affection for the poor. So I'll buy it back for you. " After hearing this, Mr. mengchang was really dumb to eat Coptis chinensis Franch. He had no choice but to say, "forget it, forget it, sir. Let's have a rest." Since then, he has been indifferent to Feng Yuan again. Later, the monarch of Qi abolished the phase of mengchang, so he had to live in Xuedi. When people in Xuedi heard that mengchang was here, they helped the old and the young out of the way to welcome him. At this time, he suddenly realized the value of benevolence and righteousness that Feng Nuan bought for him, and repeatedly thanks Feng Yuan. Feng Yuan said: "a cunning and clever rabbit has three holes to avoid death. Now you only have one hole, and you can't lie high on your pillow. Please let me dig two more holes for you He agreed and gave 50 cars and 500 Jin of gold. Feng Yuan went west to the state of Wei for activities. He said to the king of Wei Hui, "when the state of Qi banished his minister, Mr. mengchang, to where he was, which princes would meet him first would make his country rich and powerful militarily." So King Hui vacated his position and made the former prime minister a general. He sent messengers with gold and a hundred chariots to hire mengchang. Feng Yuan drove back to mengchangjun and warned him, "a thousand jin of gold is a very heavy dowry. A hundred cars are considered to be a distinguished envoy. The monarchs and ministers of the state of Qi probably heard about it. " The envoys of the state of Wei went back and forth three times, but Mencius refused. When king Qi Min heard the news, his officials were very frightened. He sent Taifu to carry two chariots with a thousand jin of gold and a sword. He sealed the letter and apologized to mengchang, saying, "I am not blessed. I have suffered from the disaster of my ancestors. I am sure that my subordinates, whom Yu Bajie met, have offended you. I'm not worthy of your help. I hope you will take care of the ancestral temple of the former king of Qi and return to the capital of the state for the time being to govern the people of the whole country. " Feng Yuan warned mengchang, "I hope you can ask the king of Qi for the ritual utensils handed down by the former king for ancestor worship, and build a ancestral temple in Xuedi." After the success of the ancestral temple, Feng Yuan returned to mengchangjun: "now that the three caves have been built, you can enjoy yourself (without worry) the lost disciples heard that mengchang had become prime minister again, and they came to him again. Meng Changjun was very angry and said to Feng Yuan, "when I lost power, they didn't help me and they all slipped away. Thanks to my husband's hard work, I was able to become prime minister again. Why do they have the face to see me again

Chinese PinYin : jiǎo tù sān kū