2014年8月27日星期三

Stories of Chinese word and term (4)

螳臂当车:   mantis try to stop the wheel of a carriage.  During the war state period (770- 476BC), one day, the duke of Qi dukedom got on a carriage for hunting. He found an insect stretched its two big arms trying to block his carriage.  Duke Qi asked the driver: “What the insect is?”
The driver said, “It is a mantis. It meets a carriage, yet it doesn’t dodge, really over-confident thing.
Duke Qi smiled, “It is a good warrior, let’s don’t harm it.” then he asked the driver made a detour.

This story spread fast, people believe that Duke Qi love brave men and many brave warrior came to join his army. And later people use the term ‘mantis try to stop the wheel of a carriage’ as a metaphor of someone who is over-confident.
Pic from: http://spanish.news.cn/2012-02/08/131398689_21n.jpg


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