Knotting the grass into a rope, the bird brings the jade ring, this is an idiom composed of two allusions. It is a metaphor for gratitude and vowing not to forget.
Idiom Pronunciation:
结草衔环
jié cǎo xián huán
Origin:
《左传·宣公十五年》：秋七月，秦桓公伐晋，次于辅氏。壬午，晋侯治兵于稷以略狄土，立黎侯而还。及洛，魏颗败秦师于辅氏。获杜回，秦之力人也。 初，魏武子有嬖妾，无子。武子疾，命颗曰：“必嫁是。”疾病，则曰：“必以为殉。”及卒，颗嫁之，曰：“疾病则乱，吾从其治也。”及辅氏之役，颗见老人结草以亢杜回，杜回踬而颠，故获之。夜梦之曰：“余，而所嫁妇人之父也。尔用先人之治命，余是以报。”
《续齐谐记》：弘农杨宝，性慈爱。年九岁，至华阴山，见一黄雀为鸱枭所搏，逐树下，伤瘢甚多，宛转复为蝼蚁所困。宝怀之以归，置诸梁上。夜闻啼声甚切，亲自照视，为蚊所啮，乃移置巾箱中，啖以黄花。逮十余日，毛羽成，飞翔，朝去暮来，宿巾箱中，如此积年。忽与群雀俱来，哀鸣绕堂，数日乃去。是夕，宝三更读书，有黄衣童子曰：“我，王母使者。昔使蓬莱，为鸱枭所搏，蒙君之仁爱见救，今当受赐南海。”别以四玉环与之，曰：“令君子孙洁白，且从登三公事，如此环矣。”宝之孝大闻天下，名位日隆。子震，震生秉，秉生彪，四世名公。及震葬时，有大鸟降，人皆谓真孝招也。
Story:
The allusion to “knotted grass” is found in “Zuo Zhuan – 15 Years of Duke Xuan”. In the seventh month of the autumn of 594 BC, Duke Huan of Qin invaded Jin, and the Jin and Qin soldiers fought in Fu Shi, Jin.
After Jin’s victory and retreat, that night, Wei Zuo saw in his dream the old man who had knotted the rope for him during the day and tripped Du Hui, who said, “I am the father of the woman you married off and did not let her be buried with your father. I am doing this today to repay your great kindness!
It turned out that Wei Wuzi, a great minister of Jin, had a concubine who had no son. When Wei Wuzi was first ill, he instructed his son Wei Zu to say, “After I die, you must marry her off.” Soon after, Wei Wuzi became seriously ill and said to Wei Zu again, “After I die, make sure she is buried for me.” When Wei Wu Zi died, Wei Zu did not obey his father’s command to kill that beloved concubine for burial when he was seriously ill, but married her off to someone else. Wei Zu said, “When a man is seriously ill, his mind is confused, and I married this woman according to my father’s command when he was sane.”
The allusion to the “ring of the title” is found in a note in the Song Dynasty’s Fan Ye’s “The Book of the Later Han – Yang Zhen’s Biography”, cited in the “Sequel to the Book of Qi Harmony”. Yang Bao, Yang Zhen’s father, was nine years old when he was in the north of Huayin Mountain and saw a yellow bird injured by an eagle and fell under a tree, trapped by ants. Yang Bao took pity on it, so he took it home and put it in a towel box, feeding it only yellow flowers, and one day, a hundred days later, the yellow finch was full of feathers and flew away. That night, a child in yellow paid his respects to Yang Bao and said, “I am the messenger of the Queen Mother of the West, and I am grateful for your kindness to save me.” And he gave four white rings to Yang Bao, saying, “Your son’s grandchildren are pure and white, and your position is on the top of three things, when such rings.” It means that it can bless the ruler’s children and grandchildren to be ranked in the three public offices, to be clean in government, and to act in the world as white as this jade ring.
As the child in yellow said, Yang Bao’s son Yang Zhen, grandson Yang Bing, great-grandson Yang Chi, and grandson Yang Biao all reached the rank of lieutenant in four generations, and all of them were upright and clean in government, and their virtues were recited by future generations.
Their virtues have been recited by future generations. Later generations have combined the words “knotted grass” and “tied the ring” together as an allusion to repaying kindness, which has been passed down to this day.
Similar Idioms:
- 感恩报德
- 饮水思源
