Humorous and funny stories from ancient poets

In front of Nanjing Confucius Temple, there is a Wende Bridge. I heard from the elders that when the moon shines on the 15th day of the winter lunar month, if you stand on the bridge and look towards the water, the shadow of the moon reflected in the water will be divided into two halves: half on this side of the bridge and half on the other side. Why does the round moon shadow split into two halves? There is a story here. Legend has it that Li Bai, the great poet of the Tang Dynasty, once came to Jinling (now Nanjing) and rested at a restaurant next to Wende Bridge. That day happened to be the fifteenth day of the winter lunar month. At night, he would sit alone in the restaurant and admire the moon, while drinking and reciting poems. Li Bai loved the moon most in his life, saying that it was clean and beautiful. That night, he looked up and saw the bright white moon in the sky. He felt very happy and drank a few more glasses. At midnight, Li Bai took advantage of the wine and went downstairs to Wende Bridge. As soon as he stepped onto the bridge, he lowered his head and suddenly saw the moon falling into the water. When the river moved, a few black lines were added to the white moon shadow. Li Bai was so drunk at this time that he thought the moon was stained by the river water. He didn't even bother to take off his boots, he opened his hands and jumped off the bridge to catch the moon. Unexpectedly, with this jump, the moon was not caught, but the moon in the water was shattered, and it was immediately divided into two halves. And so the story has been passed down. Later, people built a "de platform" next to Wende Bridge. It is said that this is the place where the great poet Li Bai admired the moon. Du Fu, poet of Tang Dynasty. The words are beautiful. His ancestral home is Xiangyang (now part of Hubei), and he was born in Gong County, Henan. Because he lived near Shaoling in the south of the city for a time when he was in Chang'an, he called himself Shaoling Yelao. When he was in Chengdu, he was recommended as a Jiedu staff member and a member of the inspection and work department. Later generations also called him Du Shaoling and Du Gongbu. Du Fu grew up in a family that "followed Confucianism and guarded officials" and had a literary tradition. Du Fu's grandfather Du Shenyan was a famous poet during the reign of Empress Wu and a member of the official catering department; his father Du Xian once served as Sima of Yanzhou and magistrate of Fengtian County. He began to study poetry at the age of 7. When he was 15, his poetry attracted the attention of celebrities in Luoyang. His life after the age of 20 can be divided into four periods. The wandering period lasted from the 19th year of Kaiyuan of Xuanzong (731) to the fourth year of Tianbao (745). Du Fu undertook two long-term wanderings. The first time was in the Jiangnan area. He visited Jinling and Suzhou, crossed Zhejiang, and boated on the Yan River to the foot of Tianmu Mountain. In the 23rd year of Kaiyuan, he returned to Luoyang to take the Jinshi examination, but was not admitted. The following year, he started his second tour in the Qi and Zhao area. He recalled the scene in his later years: "The debauchery between Qi and Zhao, the horses were quite wild." ("The Grand Tour") During these two tours, he saw The beautiful and majestic mountains and rivers of the motherland have absorbed the culture of Jiangnan and Shandong, broadening our horizons and enriching our knowledge. In the 29th year of Kaiyuan, he lived at the foot of Shouyang Mountain between Luoyang and Yanshi. He may have married his wife Yang at this time. In the third year of Tianbao's reign, he met Li Bai in Luoyang. The two traveled around Qilu, visited roads and found friends, talked about poems and essays, and sometimes discussed current affairs, forming a deep friendship. In the autumn of the following year, Du Fu was about to go west to Chang'an, and Li Bai was preparing to revisit Jiangdong. They broke up in Yanzhou and never met again. Du Fu wrote many touching poems in memory of Li Bai. Although some of the poems he wrote during this period were as extraordinary as "Wang Yue", generally speaking, they did not surpass the level of famous poets of Du Shenyan's period.