Liu Zongyuan, a great litterateur in the Tang Dynasty (618-907), wrote a story below:
It was said that there were no donkeys in Guizhou, and a person shipped a donkey from other place to the foot of a Guizhou mountain.
A tiger in the mountain saw the donkey in a distance and wanted to eat the donkey.
However, the tiger had never seen such an animal before. Seeing the donkey was tall and large, the tiger didn’t know the power of the donkey, and thus was a little afraid. The tiger was afraid to be too close to the donkey,but hid in the forest in private, observing the donkey.
After a long time, the tiger walked out of the forest and approached the donkey slowly to observe with care. However, the tiger was still a little afraid, and didn’t dare to walk too closely.
Suddenly, the donkey raised its head and shouted in a high voice. Scared by the shout, the tiger ran away to a remote place, and didn’t dare to come on for a long while.
After a few days, the tiger was already accustomed to the shout of the donkey, and thought there was nothing terrible. So, the tiger moved closer to the donkey, walked around the donkey, but still didn’t dare to come at its quarry. Later, the tiger was even closer to the donkey, and collided into the donkey to offend and irritate it on purpose.
Finally, the donkey was annoyed by the tiger, lost its temper, and kicked the tiger with its hoof. This time, the tiger was glad, thinking this guy only had such an ability.
Then, the tiger jumped to pounce the donkey,and bite the donkey’s neck. The tiger left with satisfaction after a good meal.
This story comes from Three Categories of Precepts: AGuizhou Donkey. The proverb means that a person exhausts its skills, and has no other skills to use.
