Raising a tiger leaves a scourge. The metaphor is to connive at the bad guys and leave trouble for oneself.
Idiom Pronunciation:
养虎为患
yǎng hǔ wéi huàn
Origin:
《史记·项羽本纪》：“楚兵罢食尽，此天亡楚之时也，不如因其机而遂取之。今释弗击，此所谓养虎遗患也。”
Story:
Legend has it that a long time ago, the land was vast and sparsely populated. At that time, in addition to farming, most of the mountains near the water to fishing and hunting for a living. Whenever the north wind blew, when the snow drifted, people would go into the mountains to hunt. Once, the hunters went into the mountains and managed to capture two tigers, one male and one female, with traps. Everyone will be two tigers firmly tied, a hunter will follow the trail of tigers, in the deep mountain cave to find a tiger cub. The tiger cub had just opened its eyes and had not been weaned yet! Just see it curiously open eyes looking at the hunter, not at all panic timid. The hunter saw the little tiger cub fluffy, chubby, naive, extraordinarily fond.
The hunter was happy to carry the little tiger cub back home. The hunter’s wife and children see the hunter brought home a small tiger cub, also feel very funny, small children to pet the little tiger cub, the little tiger cubs are not afraid of him, but also play with him up.
The tiger cub was carefully raised by the hunter’s family, and over time, it slowly grew up and became a big tiger. But it does not hurt people, eaten will be in the village outside the village wandering, tired of shopping to find the shade of a tree to get down and sleep, so that people and tigers are very harmonious, the tiger see people do not avoid, people see the tiger also do not hide, are used to.
In the blink of an eye, winter to spring, the light breeze, the ice melted, the river also thawed. At this time, people have put away hunting equipment, and began to fish in the river. Hunter fishing along the river, ten days before returning home, but to the home to see, could not help but panic. Because he found that the tiger he kept at home had blood stains on the corner of its mouth, but his wife and children were missing. The hunter immediately had a sense of foreboding. He was gripped by a great fear. Before he knew it, the tiger lunged at him and bit him to death with just a few bites.
Similar Idioms:
- 养痈遗患
- 养虺成蛇
