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Literal Meaning:
drinking poison to quench thirst
Metaphorical Meaning:
using wrong ways to solve current problems which results in worse consequence
In the East Han Dynasty (25 – 220 AD), there was a man named Huo Xu. He was an intelligent and brave man when he was young. When he was 15 years old, his uncle Song Guang offended the nobles by enforcing the law impartially. They trumped up a charge against him for juggling the king’s prescripts. Then Song Guang was sent to prison.
Huo Xu, who claimed to know his uncle very well, said that Song Guang was such a straightforward man that he was incapable of doing these things. So he wrote a letter to Liang Sang, the then General in Chief of the court. Huo said: “Song Guang is the magistrate of a place and always enforces the laws without any bias to work better for the court. How could he change the king’s prescripts which could result in his beheading? Is it possible that a person eats monkshood (a kind of poisonous herb) to fill his stomach, or drinks Zhen drink (a kind of poisonous alcohol soaked with feature of Zhen – a bird) to quench his thirst?”
Liang Shang read Huo Xu’s letter and thought that it was reasonable. So he gave the letter to the king, who also approved Huo Xu’s words and was impressed by Huo’s braveness and intelligence. Soon Song Guang was freed from prison.
drinking poison to quench thirst
Metaphorical Meaning:
using wrong ways to solve current problems which results in worse consequence
In the East Han Dynasty (25 – 220 AD), there was a man named Huo Xu. He was an intelligent and brave man when he was young. When he was 15 years old, his uncle Song Guang offended the nobles by enforcing the law impartially. They trumped up a charge against him for juggling the king’s prescripts. Then Song Guang was sent to prison.
Huo Xu, who claimed to know his uncle very well, said that Song Guang was such a straightforward man that he was incapable of doing these things. So he wrote a letter to Liang Sang, the then General in Chief of the court. Huo said: “Song Guang is the magistrate of a place and always enforces the laws without any bias to work better for the court. How could he change the king’s prescripts which could result in his beheading? Is it possible that a person eats monkshood (a kind of poisonous herb) to fill his stomach, or drinks Zhen drink (a kind of poisonous alcohol soaked with feature of Zhen – a bird) to quench his thirst?”
Liang Shang read Huo Xu’s letter and thought that it was reasonable. So he gave the letter to the king, who also approved Huo Xu’s words and was impressed by Huo’s braveness and intelligence. Soon Song Guang was freed from prison.