Cao zhi joke

The most beautiful words are not only poems and songs, but also stories such as legends and novels. China people are best at telling stories, especially satirical stories. In these stories, the true meaning of life is hidden in one joke after another, which can be described as true and false and ugly, making people enjoy it! For example, Ji Xiaolan, who we are familiar with, has the talent to compile Sikuquanshu and the ability to compile all kinds of interesting stories in Yuewei Caotang Notes. In the dynasty that lived in Ji Xiaolan, there was another man named Pu Songling, who wrote a book "Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio" all his life. There were tears in his laughter, joys and sorrows, and he described the ups and downs of the world.

So who told the most satirical stories in history? During the Three Kingdoms period, there was a scholar named Han Danchun in Wei State, who was very talented and was a good friend of Cao Zhi. Because of China's earliest jokes, Xiaolin is called "the ancestor of Xiaolin". Today, I will share with you a story in a laughing forest called "Nothing". This is a joke that has been circulating for nearly 2000 years, which explains what is really "nothing".

Nothing Wei: Han Danchun

A monkey saw Yan after his death and asked to be reincarnated. The king of hell said, "since you want to be a man, you need to pull out all your hair." . "Then he called hag to pluck the monkey's hair. The monkey couldn't help crying as soon as he picked one. Yan laughed. "Look at you, even reluctant to pull up a hair, how to behave? " ? "

The main idea of this ironic joke is: A monkey went to see Yan Luowang after he died! The monkey said, I don't want to be a monkey in my next life, I want to be reincarnated! Yan Luowang thought for a moment and said, "All right. Since you want to be a man, you have to pull out all your hair. " Say that finish, immediately called hag, pull out the monkey. Who knows that just after pulling out the first one, the monkey cried out in pain and couldn't stand it. Yan laughed and said, "Hey, look at you. You can't even pull out a hair. How can you be a man? "

China people's attitude towards wealth has always been free and easy. The so-called "charity" concept of wealth is an important prerequisite for China people to keep their hearts full and satisfied. Therefore, in ancient China, the evaluation of a person's life focused more on literary martial arts than wealth. At least people who have made great achievements in literature are rarely rich. Many great poets are actually down and out all their lives. Of course, this has something to do with China's traditional society attaching importance to civil affairs and neglecting commerce. Therefore, in ancient literary works, the miser has always been the object of irony.

In this story, the author skillfully uses the dialogue between the monkey and Yan Luowang, which is not only the meanness of the monkey, but also a kind of outlook on life that only pays off. Monkeys have to give their hair to get a chance to be human, which is the logic of giving first and then paying back. But for stingy people, giving is as painful as pulling the hair of a monkey, which is the core of the irony of this story.