You are a big man so you are definitely a
big-hearted person(宰相肚裡能撐船)
There was an official in the Ming Dynasty
in China, and his name was (Ye Sheng).
He has written a book that records some
interesting anecdotes at the time.
One of the stories is as follows.
There was an important official at that
time, his name was (Wu Si'an).
His office was located by a lake. One day,
when he was standing in the office, he saw a young man fishing for aquatic
plants.
He approached the young man and asked him.
Why do you want to fish for aquatic plants.
The young man answered.
These aquatic plants are for pigs.
He said to the young man.
Your fishing for water plants will disturb
me, so don't come here again.
After saying this, he returned to his
office building.
Two days later, he received a letter.
This letter was written to him by another
official close to him.
He opened the letter. It says in it.
I have heard a proverb. A big man must have
a big heart.
You are a big man whom I respect very much.
If you use the analogy of a river, most
people are a small stream, but your big heart is like a big river, a big river
on which you can drive big boats.
The servant in my house met you the other
day when he went to fish for aquatic plants.
You tell him that you can't go there to
fish for aquatic plants in the future.
So I am writing this letter to you.
I beg you to allow my servant to go there
again to fish for aquatic plants.
I believe you will agree to my request,
because you are a big man and you have a big heart.
Moreover, this lake is not your personal
asset. I think my servant has the freedom to go there to fish for aquatic
plants.
This idiom is used to flatter a person, and
flatter this person has a big heart.
Dear friend, what inspiration or thoughts
did you have after hearing this story.
If you were the master of this servant, how
would you handle this matter? If you were (Wu Si'an), how would you respond to
this letter?
I hope this story will give you some new
gains.
宰相肚裡能撐船(You are a big man so you are
definitely a big-hearted person)
中國的明王朝有一個官員，他的名字叫做(葉盛)。
他寫過一本書，這本書紀錄了一些當時有趣的軼事。
其中有一個故事如下。
當時有一個重要的官員，他名字叫做(吳思庵)。
他的辦公座落在一個湖邊，有一天，他站在辦公室中，他看見有一個年輕人正在打撈水生植物。
他走近這個年輕人並問他。
你為何要撈水草呢。
這個年輕人回答。
這些水草是要給豬吃的。
他對這個年輕人說。
你撈水草會打擾到我，你以後不要再來了。
說完這句話他就回到自已的辦公樓中。
過兩天，他收到一封信。
這封信是另一位與他很要好的官員寫給他的。
他打開這封信。裡面寫著。
我聽過一句諺語。一個大人物的心胸一定也很大。
你是一個我很尊敬的大人物。
如果用河流來比喻，大部分人是一條小溪，但是你的心胸寬大就像是一條大河，一條可以在上面駕駛大船的一條大河。
前幾天我家中的僕人去撈水草時遇見了你。
你跟他說以後不可以再去那邊撈水草。
所以我寫這封信給你。
我請求你讓我的僕人之後能再去那邊撈水生植物。
我相信你會答應我的請求，因為你是一個大人物，你的心胸寬大。
更何況這個湖不是你的個人資產，我認為我的僕人有可以去那邊撈捕水生植物的自由。
這句成語被用來奉承一個人，奉承這個人的心胸很大。
親愛的朋友，你聽完這個故事有怎樣的啟發或有怎樣的想法呢。
你如果是這個僕人的主人你會怎樣處理這件事情呢?你如果是(吳思庵)，你收到這封信會如何回應呢?
我希望這故事能讓你產生一些新的收穫。
出處為明-葉盛-水東日記-卷15-34條-楊大理詩謔-
https://ctext.org/wiki.pl?if=gb&chapter=680374