Fable · 声匠改编 · 4:03
The Fox Who Borrowed the Tiger's Might
A tiger catches a fox, but the fox claims Heaven made it king of the beasts. Every animal runs, but who are they really afraid of? The idiom hu jia hu wei.
Narrator
The Tiger
The Fox
Little Rabbit
The MonkeyOther languages · 2 languages
About this story
The Fox Who Borrowed the Tiger's Might tells the story behind the Chinese idiom 狐假虎威 (hú jiǎ hǔ wēi), which literally means 'the fox borrows the tiger's might'; here 假 (jiǎ) means 'to borrow.' It comes from the Strategies of the Warring States (Zhanguo ce), in the Strategies of Chu, where the adviser Jiang Yi tells it to King Xuan of Chu: the northern states, he says, are not really afraid of the minister Zhao Xixu, but of the king's great army standing behind him. This version tells the fable in storyteller style and lets the tiger, the fox and the forest animals speak for themselves.
What it teaches
Power borrowed from someone else isn't really yours, and bluffing only lasts so long. It also pays to look closely and ask where someone's power truly comes from, instead of being fooled by appearances.
Suits
Ages 5 and up
Tips for telling it
- Make the fox high and pompous when it brags, and the tiger low and slow when it starts to wonder; the bigger the contrast, the funnier it gets.
- When the story ends, ask your child: who were the animals really afraid of? Let them say the answer.
- Explain that 假 (jiǎ) here means 'borrow'. It makes the idiom much easier to remember.
Questions people ask
- What does 狐假虎威 mean?
- 狐假虎威 (hú jiǎ hǔ wēi) literally means 'the fox borrows the tiger's might.' It describes someone who bullies or intimidates others by relying on a powerful person behind them.
- Where does the fox and the tiger story come from?
- It comes from the Strategies of the Warring States (Zhanguo ce), compiled by the Han scholar Liu Xiang in the first century BCE. In the Chu section, the adviser Jiang Yi tells it to King Xuan of Chu to show that other states feared the king's army, not his minister Zhao Xixu.
- What is the moral of The Fox Who Borrowed the Tiger's Might?
- Borrowed power is not real strength, and it won't last. The story also reminds us to look past appearances and see where someone's power really comes from.
- Is there a Western fable like 狐假虎威?
- Aesop's The Ass in the Lion's Skin is close: a donkey dresses up in a lion's skin to frighten the other animals, until its bray gives it away. Both are about scaring others with power that isn't really yours.
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The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
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A hungry wolf pulls on a sheepskin and slips into the flock. A curious lamb notices his very pointy teeth. The classic fable about false faces, retold.
Waiting for Rabbits by the Tree Stump
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A rabbit runs into a stump and gives a farmer of Song a free dinner, so he drops his hoe to wait for the next one. The idiom shou zhu dai tu, retold.
