Ku Yu Zhi Si

In the Warring-State Period， Zhuang Zi lived in a very poor family when he was young. One day， the grains in his house could not last a day. So he went to the home of the local magistrate to borrow some grains for the emergent case. The local magistrate promised to lend Zhuang Zi grains， but he said： “When I can get my land rents， I could directly lend you several gold ingots. Is that OK？”

Hearing that the local magistrate did not want to lend him grains immediately， Zhuang Zi was very angry and said： “I only want to borrow a bag of grains to survive today. What is the use of gold ingots for me if I am dead？”

He then continued： “When I came to your place this morning， I heard a voice call me on the road. I looked back and saw a fish lying in a wheel print left by a cart. I asked： ‘what are you doing here， fish？ The fish answered： ‘I am actually a minister serving the Dragon Lord of Eastern Sea and accidentally fell into the net of a fisherman. Now I was left here and felt the death come upon me. Could you give me a buckle of water to save my life？ I said： ‘Thats no problem. I will report to the King immediately and persuaded him to organize people to dig a canal that will channel the water from Yangtze River to save you. The fish said angrily to me： ‘I am stuck here and close to death. A buckle of water is enough to save me. If you want to save me in the way like you said， you could only find me in a dried fish shop. You see， what you are going to do to me has no difference from what I did to the fish.”