Histories of Witches – Historias de BrujosFrom Cuentos Populares en Chile (Chilean Folktales) – by Ramón A. LavalPart 2 – Myths, Traditions, Things (Mitos, Tradiciones, Casos) 067. The Merchant Transformed Into A Donkey (El Comerciante Convertido En Burro) Nicolás Fuenzalida, 70 years old, keeper of the National Library, told me this story in 1920, in…
Yī yè zhàng mù (一葉障目 – 一叶障目)
一葉障目 (Yī yè zhàng mù)(1) lit. eyes obscured by a single leaf (idiom)(2) fig. not seeing the wider picture(3) can’t see the wood for the trees From link. Source: Handan Chun – Xiaolin (邯鄲淳 – 笑林, a collection of jokes and folk humor) Once upon a time there was a scholar from Chu whose family…
066. The Phantom of the Culebra
Histories of Witches – Historias de BrujosFrom Cuentos Populares en Chile (Chilean Folktales) – by Ramón A. LavalPart 2 – Myths, Traditions, Things (Mitos, Tradiciones, Casos) 066. The Phantom of the Culebra (La Aparicion de la Culebra) (The 16-year old child D. Juan Pereira from Cauquenes told me this in 1911.)A gentleman invited a friend…
Yī wèn sān bù zhī (一問三不知 – 一問三不知)
一問三不知 (Yī wèn sān bù zhī)(1) lit. to reply “don’t know” whatever the question (idiom)(2) fig. absolutely no idea of what’s going on(3) complete ignorance from beginning to end From link. Source: Wenzi (文子) said: “When a gentleman plans something, he considers its beginning, progress, and end, and only then will he act. Today I…
065. The Sorcerers of Peumo
Histories of Witches – Historias de BrujosFrom Cuentos Populares en Chile (Chilean Folktales) – by Ramón A. LavalPart 2 – Myths, Traditions, Things (Mitos, Tradiciones, Casos) 065. The Sorcerers of Peumo (Los Brujos de Peumo) (This comes from D. Roberto Rengifo, who gave me this story in writing in 1921.) Near the town of Peumo,…
Yī wǎng dǎ jìn (一網打盡 – 一网打尽)
一網打盡 (Yī wǎng dǎ jìn)(1) lit. to catch everything in one net (idiom)(2) fig. to scoop up the whole lot(3) to capture them all in one go From https://dict.idioms.moe.edu.tw/bookView.jsp?ID=161 The founding sovereign of the Shang Dynasty, Cheng Tang (成湯), was a benevolent ruler. He felt that King Jie of Xia was a brutal tyrant, and…
064. The Peddling Sorcerer
Histories of Witches – Historias de BrujosFrom Cuentos Populares en Chile (Chilean Folktales) – by Ramón A. LavalPart 2 – Myths, Traditions, Things (Mitos, Tradiciones, Casos) 064. The Peddling Sorcerer (El Falte Brujo) (The young man D. Carlos Puccio from Molina, 17 years of age, told me about this in 1911) There is a peddler…
Yī sī bù gǒu (一絲不苟 – 一丝不苟)
一絲不苟 (Yī sī bù gǒu) (1) not one thread loose (idiom); strictly according to the rules(2) meticulous(3) not one hair out of place From https://dict.idioms.moe.edu.tw/bookView.jsp?ID=237 From the word “not out of place (不苟, e.g. careful, meticulous)”, one can trace its earliest appearance in “Rites of Zhou – Offices of Earth – On Taxation and Division…
063. The Man Who Wanted To Fly
Histories of Witches – Historias de BrujosFrom Cuentos Populares en Chile (Chilean Folktales) – by Ramón A. LavalPart 2 – Myths, Traditions, Things (Mitos, Tradiciones, Casos) 063. The Man Who Wanted To Fly (063. El Hombre Que Quiso Volar) (Told by D. Francisco Vásquez in 1911, who heard it told in Santiago.) There lived in…
Yī shì wú chéng (一事無成 – 一事无成)
一事無成 (Yī shì wú chéng) (1) to have achieved nothing(2) to be a total failure(3) to get nowhere From https://dict.idioms.moe.edu.tw/bookView.jsp?ID=834 The Tang Dynasty poets Bai Juyi and Yuan Zhen were good friends and often exchanged poetry with one another to stay in touch. “Writing to Weizhi (e.g. Yuan Zhen) on New Year’s Eve (除夜寄微之)” was…