Chinese Fable

草木皆兵🔊

Cǎo Mù Jiē Bīng
📚 Fables⏱ 3 min read🎧 Audio

This fable describes extreme fear where one sees enemies everywhere.

The Story 🔊

Dōng Jìn shíqī Qián Qín de Fú Jiān shuàilǐng dàjūn gōngdǎ Dōng Jìn
东晋Dōng Jìn🔊时期shíqī🔊前秦Qián Qín🔊de🔊苻坚Fú Jiān🔊率领shuàilǐng🔊大军dàjūn🔊攻打gōngdǎ🔊东晋Dōng Jìn🔊
Fú Jiān dēng shàng chéngqiáng kàndào duìmiàn shān shàng de cǎomù yǐwéi dōu shì díbīng
苻坚Fú Jiān🔊登上dēng shàng🔊城墙chéngqiáng🔊看到kàndào🔊对面duìmiàn🔊山上shān shàng🔊de🔊草木cǎomù🔊以为yǐwéi🔊都是dōu shì🔊敌兵díbīng🔊
Tā xīnzhōng fēicháng hàipà juéde dàochù dōu shì dírén
🔊心中xīnzhōng🔊非常fēicháng🔊害怕hàipà🔊觉得juéde🔊到处dàochù🔊都是dōu shì🔊敌人dírén🔊
Jiéguǒ Qián Qín jūnduì dàbài Fú Jiān cānghuáng táozǒu
结果Jiéguǒ🔊前秦Qián Qín🔊军队jūnduì🔊大败dàbài🔊苻坚Fú Jiān🔊仓皇cānghuáng🔊逃走táozǒu🔊
English Translation:
During the Eastern Jin period, Fu Jian of Former Qin led a large army to attack Eastern Jin. Fu Jian climbed the city wall and saw the grass and trees on the opposite mountain, thinking they were all enemy soldiers. He was very afraid and felt enemies were everywhere. As a result, the Former Qin army was defeated and Fu Jian fled in panic.

Key Vocabulary

草木皆兵
cǎo mù jiē bīng
see enemies everywhere
草木
cǎomù
grass and trees
敌兵
díbīng
enemy soldiers
害怕
hàipà
afraid
大军
dàjūn
large army
逃走
táozǒu
flee

The Moral

Fear distorts reality! When people are extremely frightened, they may see threats where none exist.

Cultural Insight

草木皆兵 comes from the Battle of Fei River (淝水之战) in "Book of Jin" (晋书).