It is difficult to retrieve the water splashed on the ground. The metaphor is that the matter has been settled, it is difficult to undo. It is also a metaphor for a couple whose relationship has been severed, and it is difficult to revive the relationship.
Idiom Pronunciation:
覆水难收
fù shuǐ nán shōu
Origin book:
《后汉书·何进传》：国家之事易可容易？覆水不收，宜深思之。
Origin Story:
Legend has it that at the end of the Shang Dynasty, there was a wise and resourceful man surnamed Jiang Shang (姜尚) and Ziya (子牙), known as Jiang Tai Gong (姜太公). He was also known as Lv Shang because his ancestor was feuded in Lv. He assisted King Wen of Zhou and King Wu of Zhou to conquer the Shang Dynasty and establish the Zhou Dynasty, and made great achievements. Later, he was sealed in Qi and was the founder of the state of Qi during the Spring and Autumn Period.
Jiang Taigong had been an official in the Shang Dynasty, but due to his great dissatisfaction with the brutal rule of King Zhou of Shang, he resigned from his post and lived in seclusion in a relatively remote place by the Weishui River in Shaanxi Province. In order to win the reappointment of King Wen of Zhou, the leader of the Zhou clan, he often fished in a small river with a straight hook without bait, pretending to be a fisherman. When Jiang Tai Gong fished all day, his family’s livelihood went into trouble and his wife Ma, who resented him for being poor and unproductive, did not want to live with him anymore and wanted to leave him. Jiang Taigong repeatedly persuaded her not to do so and said that one day he would surely get rich and famous. But Ma thought he was lying to her with empty words and did not believe Jiang Tai Gong’s words. Jiang Taigong had no choice but to let her go away from him.
Later, Jiang Taigong finally won the trust and reappointment of King Wen of Zhou, and helped King Wu of Zhou to unite with other lords to conquer the Shang Dynasty and establish the Western Zhou Dynasty. Jiang Taigong returned to his feudal kingdom with great honor and glory. When Ma saw that he was rich and powerful, she regretted leaving him and stopped the car at the place where Jiang Taigong was passing and asked to resume the relationship with him as husband and wife.
When Jiang Tai Gong saw Ma, who was in a very poor state, he thought back to the time when she married him and did not enjoy a day of happiness, but he was very sympathetic; but when he remembered that she did not remember the love between husband and wife and was determined to divorce him, he was very angry, so he ordered his attendant to get a basin of water from the river and put it in front of Ma, saying, “I will throw water on the ground, if you can put away this water, I will take you to the feudal state and share glory.” Ma agreed and hurriedly got down on the ground to fetch the water, but could not retrieve the water poured on the ground. Then Jiang Tai Gong said to her, “It is hard to take back the water that has been poured, and it is hard to renew the fate!” It means that you have left me, so you cannot be united together again. It’s like water poured on the ground, it’s hard to take it back! Ma was so ashamed that she said goodbye to Jiang Taigong and threw herself into the river to die.
When Jiang Tai Gong saw Ma’s death, he was a little sad, because after all, he had been a couple! Jiang Tai Gong thought, since Ma was so disgusted with the poor and rich, why not find a place for her on the list of gods and make her a poor god? So, he wrote a talisman to seal the gods and instructed Ma: “The poor god can go to whoever’s rich, and when the rich family is poor, he will come out of his house and go to another rich family. “
But the poor god is more confused, can not distinguish between rich and poor families, which makes families are afraid of the poor god, until now people have to go to the village on the fourth night or the morning of the fifth day of the year to burn paper money to send the poor god.
Similar Idioms:
- 木已成舟
