A prime minister with the moral character
of a deer(弄璋宰相)
In China's Tang Dynasty there was a famous
minister. His name was Li Linfu. There is a story about him recorded in history
books.
He entered the central government system of
the Tang Dynasty by currying favour with some powerful ministers. With his
flexible mind and cunning character, he was promoted and later became the Prime
Minister of the Tang Dynasty.
He had read very little and had no deep
knowledge. Once he made a fool of himself in public.
Li Linfu's cousin had a very important
position in the central government, and his cousin's wife gave birth to a boy.
His cousin was very happy, so he held a big banquet to entertain all his
relatives and friends.
Many officials from the central government
and celebrities from the capital attended the birthday party, and Li Linfu was
also invited.
After Li Linfu arrived at the banquet, he
took out the gift he had carefully prepared and gave it to his cousin, and then
he took out a greeting card he had written himself and gave it to his cousin.
His cousin happily accepted his gift, but
when his cousin saw the greeting card he had written, the smile on his cousin's
face suddenly froze.
On the greeting card, there are some
congratulatory Chinese characters. The literal translation of these Chinese
characters is "Congratulations on the birth of a son. I hope your son will
have the moral character of a deer when he grows up.
Li Linfu made a typo.
If the sentence is not misspelled, the
correct meaning should be "Congratulations on the birth of a son, and I
hope that when your son grows up he will have a character as beautiful as a
piece of jade".
The two Chinese characters "獐" ( A deer) and "璋" (A beautiful jade)
are very similar. As Li Linfu had not read much, he made a big joke.
His cousin accepted the card with
embarrassment.
Many celebrities who attended the banquet
also saw the card. A few weeks later, Li Linfu was given another nickname,
"The Prime Minister with the moral Character of a Deer".
The literal translation of this idiom means
a prime minister with the moral character of a deer.
This idiom is used to describe people who
have no knowledge but are famous and powerful.
Dear friends, what are your feelings or
thoughts after listening to this story?
Have you ever done anything embarrassing?
If you find that you don't understand something, will you take the initiative
to study it?
I hope this story can give you some new
insights.
弄璋宰相(A prime minister with the moral
character of a deer)
中國的唐王朝有一個著名的大臣，他的名字是李林甫，歷史書上記載了一個他的故事。
他靠著巴結一些有權勢的大臣進入了唐王朝的中央政府的體系內，他憑藉著自己的靈活的頭腦與狡猾的性格不斷的升職，他後來成為唐王朝的宰相。
他的書念得很少，他沒有深厚的學識，有一次他在一個公開的場合出了糗。
李林甫的表哥在中央政府內擔任很重要的職務，他的表哥的妻子生了一個男孩。他的表哥非常的開心，所以他的表哥舉辦了一場盛大的宴會宴請所有的親戚與朋友。
這場生日宴會上來了很多中央政府的官員，也來了很多首都內的名人，李林甫也受邀參加了這場宴會。
李林甫到達宴會現場後，他拿出自己精心準備的禮物給他的表哥，接著他拿出自已親手寫的一張賀卡送給他的表哥。
他的表哥開心地收下他的禮物，但是當他的表哥看到他寫的賀卡時，他的表哥臉上的笑容突然變得僵硬。
這張賀卡上面寫的幾個中文字的祝賀詞，這幾個中文字直接翻譯的意思是祝賀你生了一個兒子，祝願你這個兒子長大後的道德像一隻獐。
李林甫寫錯字了。
這句話如果沒有寫錯，正確的意思應該是祝賀你生了一個兒子，祝願你這個兒子長大的品德像一塊美玉。
獐與璋這兩個中文字很像，因為李林甫的書念得很少，所以他鬧出了一個大笑話。
他的表哥尷尬地接受了這張賀卡。
很多參加這場宴會的名人也都看到了這張賀卡，幾個禮拜後，李林甫多了一個綽號，這個綽號就是品德像一隻獐的宰相。
這句成語直接翻譯的意思是德行像一隻獐的宰相。
這句成語被用來形容一些沒有知識但很有名且很有權力的人。
親愛的朋友，你聽完這個故事有怎樣的感受或有怎樣的想法呢。
你做過那些令你尷尬的糗事呢?當你發現自己有不懂的事情的時候，你會主動去研究這些你不懂的事情嗎?
我希望這故事能讓你產生一些新的收穫。
出處為舊唐書-卷106-李林甫傳
https://zh.wikisource.org/zh-hans/%E8%88%8A%E5%94%90%E6%9B%B8/%E5%8D%B7106