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螳螂捕蟬,黃雀在後

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Chinese

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praying mantis to catch; to seize; to capture cicada Eurasian siskin
(located) at; in; exist
(located) at; in; exist; (before verbs) immediately involved in; right in the middle of doing
 
back; behind; rear
back; behind; rear; afterwards; after; later
 
trad. (螳螂捕蟬,黃雀在後) 螳螂 黃雀
simp. (螳螂捕蝉,黄雀在后) 螳螂 黄雀
Literally: “the mantis catches the cicada, unaware of the siskin behind”.

Etymology

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左右:「!」孺子不敢:「如此!」,
:「悲鳴不知螳螂螳螂不知黃雀黃雀螳螂不知不顧。」
:「!」
[Classical Chinese, trad.]
左右:「!」孺子不敢怀:「如此!」,
:「悲鸣不知螳螂螳螂不知黄雀黄雀螳螂不知不顾。」
:「!」
[Classical Chinese, simp.]
From: Shuoyuan, circa 1st century BCE
Wú wáng yù fá jīng, gào qí zuǒyòu yuē: “Gǎn yǒu jiàn zhě sǐ!” Shè rén yǒu shào rúzǐ yù jiàn bùgǎn, zé huái wán cāo dàn, yóu yú hòu yuán, lù zhān qí yī, rú shì zhě zài sān. Wú wáng yuē: “Zǐ lái, hé kǔ zhān yī rúcǐ!”,
Duì yuē: “Yuán zhōng yǒu shù, qí shàng yǒu chán, chán gāo jū bēimíng, yǐn lù, bùzhī tángláng zài qí hòu yě; tángláng wěi shēn qū fù, yù qǔ chán, bùzhī huángquè zài qí páng yě; huángquè yán jǐng, yù zhuó tángláng, ér bùzhī dàn wán zài qí xià yě. Cǐ sān zhě jiē wù yù dé qí qián lì, ér bùgù qí hòu zhī yǒu huàn yě.”
Wú wáng yuē: “Shàn zāi!” Nǎi bà qí bīng.
[Pinyin]
The king of Wu wanted to subdue the Chu state, and told the ministers: "whoever dares to remonstrate dies!" A young man wished to remonstrate with the king but did not dare. He had hidden a projectile in his bosom with a slingshot in hand, and when wandering in the backyard, the dew wet his clothes for a few days like this. The king of Wu asked “how did you wet your clothes hard like this?"
The young man replied: "there is a tree in the garden with a cicada on the tree. The cicada was standing at a high place wailing and drinking dew, ignorant of a praying mantis behind it; the praying mantis curled up close to the branch, bent its forelimbs, attempting to grab the cicada, ignorant of a siskin next to it; the siskin extended its neck to peck the mantis, ignorant of the slingshot and projectile underneath it. All three of them chased after their immediate benefits without considering the hidden dangers behind them."
The king of Wu said "good!”, thus suspending his plan of conquest.

Pronunciation

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Idiom

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螳螂捕蟬,黃雀在後

  1. to pursue a narrow gain while neglecting a greater danger