In the Warring States period, the Chu State had a very
capable minister called Zhao Xixu. He was well respected
and held in awe by the people of other countries as well
as his own. One day, the king asked his ministers "I
hear every state in the north is afraid of our minister
Zhao Xixu, is that so?" At the question, almost all
the ministers kept silent except one called Jiangyi, who
liked to curry the king's favor very much. He lost no
time to seize the opportunity and said, "Your Majesty,
you know, it's you who people awe and respect, not him!
Have you ever heard the story The Fox Borrows the Tiger's
Terror?" Well, here is the story.
One day a tiger was hunting around in a forest. An unlucky
fox was met and caught by the tiger. For the fox, the
inescapable fate was very clear -- death. Despite the
danger, the fox thought hard to find a way out. Promptly,
the fox declared to the tiger, "How dare you kill
me!" On hearing the words the tiger was surprised
and asked for the reason" The fox raised his voice
a bit higher and declared arrogantly: "To tell you
the truth, it's I who was accredited by God to the forest
as the king of all the animals! If you kill me, that will
be against the God's will, you know?" Seeing that
the tiger became suspicions, the fox added: "Let's
have a test. Let's go through the forest. Follow me and
you will see HOW THE ANIMALS ARE FRIGHTENED OF ME."
The tiger agreed. So the fox walked ahead of the tiger
proudly through the forest. As you can imagine, the animals,
seeing the tiger behind, were all terribly frightened
and ran away. Then the fox said proudly: "There is
no doubt that what I said is true, isn't it?" The
tiger had nothing to say but to acknowledge the result.
So the tiger nodded and said: "You are right. You
are the king." When Minister Jiangyi finished
the story above, he added to the king: "It seems
as if the northern neighbors were afraid of Minister
Zhao xixu. In fact, they are afraid of Your Majesty
just as the animals were afraid of the tiger not of
the fox." The king was very pleased at Minister
Jiangyi's words. And never doubted its truth.
The idiom is often used to analogize with those who
take advantage of one's or somebody else's power to
bully people.
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