If you’re in need of a fable that demonstrates the dangers of kissing ass, you’re in luck.
一只火鸡对公牛说: “我真想飞到对面那棵大树的顶端，可惜现在一点力气也没有。”公牛出主意道: “你为何不吃一点我的粪便呢，里面可是富含营养哟，呵呵。”火鸡觉得有道理，啄食了一点，立即感觉有了力气，便尽力飞到一根树枝上。第二天，火鸡又吃了几口粪便，有了力气，便飞到更高的树枝上。两周后，当火鸡吃下足够多的公牛粪便，终于飞上大树的顶部。火鸡极目远眺，正在洋洋得意，被一名农夫发现了，迅速开枪将它射落在地。
这则寓言的寓意: 舔别人的屁股是一条捷径，能使你迅速获取较高的位置，但却不能保持长久。
Hover a word for its pinyin & meaning; click to pin it.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 一 | yī | one; single; a (article); as soon as; entire; whole; all; throughout; "one" radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 1); also pr. [yao1] for greater clarity when spelling out … |
| 只 | zhī | variant of 隻|只[zhi1]; variant of 只[zhi3]; grain that has begun to ripen; classifier for birds and certain animals, one of a pair, some utensils, vessels etc |
| 火鸡 | huǒ jī | turkey |
| 对 | duì | right; correct; towards; at; for; concerning; regarding; to treat (sb a certain way); to face; (bound form) opposite; facing; matching; to match together; to adjust; to fit; to sui… |
| 公牛 | gōng níu | bull |
| 说 | shuì | to persuade; variant of 說|说[shuo1] |
| 我 | wǒ | I; me; my |
| 真 | zhēn | really; truly; indeed; real; true; genuine |
| 想 | xiǎng | to think (about); to think of; to devise; to think (that); to believe (that); to desire; to want (to); to miss (feel wistful about the absence of) |
| 飞 | fēi | to fly |
| 到 | dào | to reach; to arrive; to leave for; to go to; to (a place); until (a time); up to (a point); (verb complement indicating arriving at a place or reaching a point); considerate; thoug… |
| 对面 | duì miàn | opposite; across (the street etc); directly in front of one; up ahead; face to face |
| 那 | Nā | surname Na |
| 棵 | kē | classifier for trees, cabbages, plants etc |
| 大 | dà | big; large; great; older (than another person); eldest (as in 大姐[da4 jie3]); greatly; freely; fully; (dialect) father; (dialect) uncle (father's brother) |
| 树 | shù | tree; CL:棵[ke1]; to cultivate; to set up |
| 的 | de | of; ~'s (possessive particle); (used after an attribute when it modifies a noun); (used at the end of a declarative sentence for emphasis); (used after a noun, verb or adjective to… |
| 顶端 | dǐng duān | summit; peak |
| 可 | kě | (prefix) can; may; able to; -able; to approve; to permit; to suit; (particle used for emphasis) certainly; very; but; however |
| 惜 | xi | to cherish; to pity |
| 现 | xiàn | to appear; present; now; existing; current |
| 在 | zài | to exist; to be alive; (of sb or sth) to be (located) at; (used before a verb to indicate an action in progress) |
| 一点 | yī diǎn | a bit; a little bit; (used in negative expressions) (not) the least bit; (after an adjective, used to form the comparative) a bit more, -er; a point (in a discussion etc); (calligr… |
| 力气 | lì qi | physical strength |
| 也 | Yě | surname Ye |
| 没有 | méi yǒu | haven't; hasn't; doesn't exist; to not have; to not be |
| 出主意 | chū zhǔ yi | to come up with ideas; to make suggestions; to offer advice |
| 道 | dào | road; path (CL:條|条[tiao2],股[gu3]); (bound form) way; reason; principle; (bound form) a skill; an art; a specialization; (Daoism) the Way; the Dao; to say (introducing a direct quot… |
| 你 | nǐ | you (informal, as opposed to courteous 您[nin2]); you (Note: In Taiwan, 妳 is used to address females, but in mainland China, it is not commonly used. Instead, 你 is used to address both males and females.) |
| 为何 | wèi hé | why |
| 不 | bù | no; not so; (bound form) not; un- |
| 吃 | chī | to eat; to consume; to eat at (a cafeteria etc); to eradicate; to destroy; to absorb; to suffer (shock, injury, defeat etc); variant of 吃[chi1] |
| 粪 | ||
| 便 | biàn | plain; informal; suitable; convenient; opportune; to urinate or defecate; equivalent to 就[jiu4]: then; in that case; even if; soon afterwards |
| 呢 | ne | (sentence-final particle) used in questions to link back to prior discourse or context ("what about...?", "and...?"); (sentence-final particle) indicating that a state or situation… |
| 里面 | lǐ miàn | variant of 裡面|里面[li3 mian4] |
| 可是 | kě shì | but; however; (used for emphasis) indeed |
| 富含 | fù hán | to contain in great quantities; rich in |
| 营 | yīng | camp; battalion; to operate; to strive for |
| 养 | yǎng | to raise (animals); to bring up (children); to keep (pets); to support; to give birth |
| 哟 | ||
| 呵 | he | to breathe (out); to scold; (interjection) oh; ha |
| 觉得 | jué de | to think that ...; to feel that ...; to feel (uncomfortable etc) |
| 有道理 | yǒu dào li | to make sense; reasonable |
| 啄食 | zhuó shí | (of a bird) to peck at food |
| 了 | le | (completed action marker); (modal particle indicating change of state, situation now); (modal particle intensifying preceding clause); (bound form) clear in one's mind; to understand clearly |
| 立即 | lì jí | immediately |
| 感 | gǎn | to feel; to move; to touch; to affect; feeling; emotion; (suffix) sense of ~ |
| 觉 | jiào | a nap; a sleep; CL:場|场[chang2] |
| 有了 | yǒu le | I've got a solution!; to have a bun in the oven (abbr. for 有了胎[you3 le5 tai1]) |
| 尽力 | jìn lì | to strive one's hardest; to spare no effort |
| 根 | gēn | root; basis; classifier for long slender objects, e.g. cigarettes, guitar strings; CL:條|条[tiao2]; radical (chemistry) |
| 树枝 | shù zhī | branch; twig |
| 上 | shǎng | used in 上聲|上声[shang3 sheng1] |
| 第 | dì | (prefix indicating ordinal number, as in 第六[di4 liu4] "sixth"); (literary) grades in which successful candidates in the imperial examinations were placed; (old) residence of a high… |
| 二 | èr | two; 2; (Beijing dialect) stupid |
| 天 | tiān | day; sky; heaven |
| 又 | yòu | (once) again; also; both... and...; and yet; (used for emphasis) anyway |
| 几 | jī | small table; (literary) almost |
| 口 | kǒu | mouth; classifier for things with mouths (people, domestic animals, cannons, wells etc); classifier for bites or mouthfuls |
| 更 | gēng | to change or replace; to experience; one of the five two-hour periods into which the night was formerly divided; watch (e.g. of a sentry or guard) |
| 高 | Gāo | surname Gao |
| 两 | liǎng | two; both; some; a few; tael, unit of weight equal to 50 grams (modern) or 1⁄16 of a catty 斤[jin1] (old) |
| 周 | Zhōu | surname Zhou; Zhou Dynasty (1046–256 BC); week; weekly; variant of 周[zhou1] |
| 后 | Hòu | surname Hou; back; behind; rear; afterwards; after; later; post- |
| 当 | dāng | (onom.) dong; ding dong (bell); to be; to act as; manage; withstand; when; during; ought; should; match equally; equal; same; obstruct; just at (a time or place); on the spot; right; just at |
| 下 | xià | down; downwards; below; lower; later; next (week etc); second (of two parts); to decline; to go down; to arrive at (a decision, conclusion etc); measure word to show the frequency … |
| 足够 | zú gòu | enough; sufficient |
| 多 | duō | many; much; more; a lot of; too many; in excess; (after a numeral) ... odd; how (to what extent) (Taiwan pr. [duo2]); (bound form) multi-; poly- |
| 终 | zhong | end |
| 于 | Yú | surname Yu; (of time or place) in; at; on; (indicating any indirect relation) to; toward; vis-à-vis; with regard to; for; (indicating a source) from; out of; (used in comparison) than; (used i… |
| 顶部 | dǐng bù | roof; topmost part; top (of tree, wall etc); apex |
| 极 | jí | extremely; pole (geography, physics); utmost; top |
| 目 | mù | eye; (literary) to look; to regard; eye (of a net); mesh; mesh size; grit size (abbr. for 目數|目数[mu4 shu4]); item; section; list; catalogue; (taxonomy) order; name; title |
| 远 | yuǎn | far; distant; remote; (intensifier in a comparison) by far; much (lower etc) |
| 眺 | ||
| 正 | zhēng | first month of the lunar year |
| 洋洋 | yáng yáng | vast; impressive; self-satisfied; immensely pleased with oneself |
| 得意 | dé yì | proud of oneself; pleased with oneself; complacent |
| 被 | bèi | quilt; to cover (with); (literary) to suffer (a misfortune); used to indicate passive voice (placed before the doer of the action like "by" in English passive-voice sentences, or, … |
| 名 | míng | name; noun (part of speech); place (e.g. among winners); famous; classifier for people |
| 农夫 | nóng fū | peasant; farmer |
| 发现 | fā xiàn | to notice; to become aware of; to discover; to find; to detect; a discovery |
| 迅 | xǔn | rapid |
| 速 | sǔ | fast; quick |
| 开 | kāi | to open (transitive or intransitive); (of ships, vehicles, troops etc) to start; to turn on; to put in operation; to operate; to run; to boil; to write out (a prescription, check, … |
| 枪 | qiāng | gun; spear |
| 将 | jiāng | will; shall; to use; to take; to checkmate; just a short while ago; (introduces object of main verb, used in the same way as 把[ba3]) |
| 它 | tā | it; it (pronoun for an animal) |
| 射 | shè | old variant of 射[she4]; to shoot; to launch; to allude to; radio- (chemistry) |
| 落 | là | to leave out; to be missing; to leave behind or forget to bring; to lag or fall behind |
| 地 | de | -ly; structural particle: used before a verb or adjective, linking it to preceding modifying adverbial adjunct |
| 这 | zhè | (pronoun) this; these; (bound form) this; the (followed by a noun); (bound form) this; these (followed by a classifier) (in this sense, commonly pr. [zhei4], esp. in Beijing) |
| 则 | zé | (literary) (conjunction used to express contrast with a previous clause) but; then; (bound form) standard; norm; (bound form) principle; (literary) to imitate; to follow; classifie… |
| 寓 | yǔ | (bound form) to reside; to inhabit; (bound form) to imply; to place; to contain (sth abstract) |
| 言 | yán | words; speech; to say; to talk |
| 意 | yì | (bound form) idea; thought; meaning; sense; (bound form) intention; feeling; inclination; state of mind; (bound form) Italy (abbr. for 意大利[Yi4 da4 li4]) |
| 舔 | tiǎn | to lick; to lap |
| 别人 | bié ren | other people; others; other person |
| 屁 | pǐ | fart; nonsense; (not) a damn thing |
| 股 | gǔ | thigh; part of a whole; portion of a sum; (finance) stock; share; strand of a thread; low-level administrative unit, translated as "section" or "department" etc, ranked below 科[ke1… |
| 是 | shì | to be (followed by substantives only); correct; right; true; (respectful acknowledgement of a command) very well; (adverb for emphatic assertion); variant of 是[shi4] |
| 条 | tiáo | strip; item; article; clause (of law or treaty); classifier for long thin things (ribbon, river, road, trousers etc) |
| 捷 | jiē | nimble |
| 径 | jǐng | footpath; path; track; (fig.) a way; a means; diameter |
| 能 | Néng | surname Neng |
| 使 | shǐ | to make; to cause; to enable; to use; to employ; to send; to instruct sb to do sth; envoy; messenger |
| 获 | huǒ | (literary) to catch; to capture |
| 取 | qǔ | to take; to get; to choose; to fetch |
| 较 | jiào | (bound form) to compare; (literary) to dispute; compared to; (before an adjective) relatively; comparatively; rather; also pr. [jiao3] |
| 位置 | wèi zhi | position; place; seat; CL:個|个[ge4] |
| 但 | dàn | but; yet; however; still; merely; only; just |
| 却 | què | old variant of 卻|却[que4]; but; yet; however; while; to go back; to decline; to retreat; nevertheless; even though |
| 保 | báo | Bulgaria (abbr. for 保加利亞|保加利亚[Bao3 jia1 li4 ya4]) |
| 持 | chí | to hold; to grasp; to support; to maintain; to persevere; to manage; to run (i.e. administer); to control |
| 长久 | cháng jǐu | long-time; long-term; lasting; enduring; permanent; for a long time |
A turkey said to a bull: “I really want to fly to the top of that tree, it’s a pity I don’t have any strength.” The bull proposed an idea: “Why don’t you eat a little of my feces, it’s rich in nutrients, hehe.” The turkey thought that this made sense, so he ate [lit: pecked at] a little, and immediately felt strong, and trying as hard as he could, he flew onto a tree branch. The second day, the turkey ate several mouthfuls of feces, got strength, and flew to an even higher tree branch. After two weeks, when the turkey had eaten enough bull feces, he finally flew to the top of the tree. He gazed into the distance, and just when he was feeling very pleased with himself, a farmer saw him, and quickly opened fire and shot him down.
The moral of this fable is: licking other people’s butts is a shortcut, and it can get you to a pretty high position very quickly, however [success gained this way] doesn’t last long.