第四章 守株待兔

In ancient times, there was a farmer in the State of Song.

He went to work in the fields before dawn every day and only returned home after dark. Throughout the year, the grain harvested from his field was barely enough to feed his family.

Beside the field there was an old tree stump, left from when a tree was cut down many years ago.

One day, the farmer was weeding in the field. Suddenly, a rustling sound came from the grass, and a rabbit ran out. Not seeing the stump ahead, it ran straight into it and fell to the ground, motionless.

The farmer put down his hoe, walked over, and saw that the rabbit was already dead. He took it home and cooked a pot of meat in the evening. He had spent no money and used no effort, yet he ate better than usual.

After the meal, he sat at the door and thought: "I work hard in the fields every day, and in a whole year I only get a little grain. Today, without doing anything, I got a rabbit. If there is another rabbit tomorrow, why should I still farm?"

The next day, the farmer brought his lunch and sat by the tree stump waiting for rabbits.

A passerby found it strange and asked him, "Why aren't you working today?"

The farmer said, "I'm waiting for a rabbit. Yesterday it ran into this tree."

The man laughed, "A rabbit running into a tree is a stroke of luck. Such luck doesn't happen every day. You should go back to farming."

The farmer shook his head. "What if there's another one today?"

He waited from dawn to dusk, but nothing came.

The next day, he went again. When the wind blew across the grass, he immediately stood up, thinking a rabbit was coming. When something ran in the distance, he also chased after it. But every time, it was not a rabbit.

One day, two days, a month. He sat by the tree stump every day. The weeds in the field grew taller and taller, but he did not take care of them.

Someone advised him, "Your field is about to become wasteland."

The farmer looked at the tree stump and said, "I've waited so long already. Maybe a rabbit will come tomorrow. If I go back now, wouldn't all these days have been wasted?"

When autumn came, other people's fields were full of grain, but the farmer's field was only overgrown with weeds.

The second rabbit never came.

What he was waiting for was not a rabbit, but the hope that what had happened that day would happen again.

The tree stump was still the same tree stump, but the field had already become barren.

Later, people used the phrase "waiting for a rabbit by a tree stump" to describe someone who wants to succeed by depending on chance rather than making efforts themselves.