The story of Foolish Old Man who moved mountains in 50 words

Story 50 words:

There were two big mountains in front of Yu Gong’s house. He was determined to level the mountains. An old man, the wise old man, laughed at him for being so stupid. Yu Gong said: I have lived for generations. He insisted that it would eventually be leveled, and later moved the Emperor of Heaven to order the two sons of Hercules to carry the two mountains on their backs.

Detailed story content:

In the south of Jizhou (in today's Hebei Province) and on the north bank of the Yellow River, there are two very tall mountains-Taihang Mountain and Wangwu Mountain. To the north of the mountain lived an old man named Yu Gong, who was over ninety years old. Because the mountain blocks the door of Yugong's house, he has to take a long detour every time he goes out and goes home, which is very inconvenient. One day, Yu Gong gathered his family to discuss moving the two mountains. The family members all agreed, but his wife raised a question: "How could you move such a big mountain with your own strength?" The next day, Yu Gong led his children and grandchildren to start digging the soil. , chiseled the stones, and others used dustpans to transport the soil to the Bohai Sea. Seeing this, an old man named Zhisou also came to help. Seeing their busy figures, he laughed at Yu Gong and said: " Foolish Old Man! You are so overestimating your abilities! You are very old, how many more years can you live? You also want to move mountains. I think it would be difficult for you to cut down a tree on the mountain, let alone level the mountain. "

After listening to Zhisou's words, Yu Gong sighed and said: "Your thoughts are so stubborn! Yes, my power is limited. But I still have so many sons and grandsons, and they will also have sons and grandsons in the future. The reproduction of our descendants will never stop, so our power will become stronger and stronger. But the mountain will not grow taller, so I do not believe that the mountain cannot be leveled. "Zhisou shook his head. Although he didn't understand Yu Gong's behavior, he couldn't refute it. Later, the Emperor of Heaven heard about Yu Gong's move of mountains and was moved by his spirit and sincerity, so he sent two gods to move the two mountains. From now on, there will no longer be any obstacles in the way of travel.

Extended information

The background of the story of Yu Gong Yishan:

The Warring States Period was a period of great social change. This period was also a period when hundreds of schools of thought were contending. As an important part of the prose of the various scholars, fables became a powerful weapon for the scholars of the Warring States Period to clarify their political views, academic thoughts and debates.

"Lie Zi". It is a collection of fables and myths produced under such an era. This article is selected from Chapter 5 of "Liezi·Tang Wen". It tells the story of the Foolish Old Man who was not afraid of difficulties and kept digging mountains, but finally moved the Emperor of Heaven. The story of the mountains moving away also shows that under the conditions of extremely underdeveloped productivity at that time, people could only dream of realizing their desire to conquer nature with the help of gods with superhuman power.