This letter was lost(付諸洪喬)
In the Eastern Jin Dynasty of China, there
was an official. His name was Yin Xian, but his friends called him Yin
Hongqiao. There is a story about him in the history books.
The capital at that time was Nanjing, now
in Jiangsu Province, China, and he served as an official in the capital.
One day the king ordered him to be
transferred to Nanchang, now in Jiangxi Province, China. The two cities are
about 600 kilometres apart.
Because transport was inconvenient in
ancient times and there was no good postal system, many people came to him when
they heard about it.
These people said to him, "I have
relatives and friends in Nanchang City, and I want to write a letter to my
relatives and friends in Nanchang City.
I have heard that you are going to Nanchang
City to work as an official. Can you help me take a letter to Nanchang City for
my relatives and friends?
He nodded in agreement to their request.
He did not expect that later many people
would ask him to help them take letters to Nanchang City. He was embarrassed to
refuse. Later, when he left Nanjing City, he took a total of more than 100
letters with him.
As he left Nanjing, he felt more and more
unhappy. He said to himself, "I am not a messenger who carries letters for
people.
When I arrive in Nanchang, I will have to
deliver these more than 100 letters one by one. How much time will it take?
As he was getting on the boat at the pier,
he said to himself, 'I might as well pretend that these letters are lost so
that I don't have to deliver letters to these people.
He immediately took action and threw all
the letters into the river.
He felt a little sorry for those who had
asked him to help deliver letters.
As he threw the letters away, he said to
himself, "If these letters are picked up by others, then these letters
have a chance of being sent to Nanchang City.
I am not responsible for these letters, for
I am not a messenger.
His act of breaking promises was discovered
by people on the same ship. His act of breaking promises was recorded in the
history books. People in future generations will quote this idiom when their
letters are lost.
The literal translation of this saying is
that this letter was given to Hong Qiao.
It is used to describe a letter lost in the
post.
Dear friend, what inspirations or thoughts
do you have after listening to this story?
How would you judge his behaviour? Do you
think if he knew that what he did would be recorded in the history books, would
he still do it?
I hope this story has given you some new
insights.
付諸洪喬(This letter was lost)
中國的東晉王朝有一個官員，這個官員的名字叫做殷羨，他的朋友都叫他殷洪喬。歷史書上記載了一個他的故事。
當時的首都在現在中國的江蘇省的南京市，他在首都擔任官員。
有一天，國王下令將他調派到現在中國的江西省的南昌市。這兩個城市距離大約600公里。
由於古代的交通不方便，而且沒有良好的郵務系統，因此有很多人聽到這個事情後就來找他。
這些人對他說，我有親人與朋友住在南昌市，我想要寫一封信給我住在南昌市的親人與朋友。
我聽說你要去南昌市擔任官員，你可以幫我帶一封信到南昌市給我的親人與朋友嗎?
他點頭答應這些人的請求。
他沒有想到，後來又有很多人來請他幫忙帶信到南昌市，他不好意思拒絕，後來當他要離開南京市的那一天，他的身上總共帶了有超過100封信。
當他離開南京市後，他的心裡愈想愈不開心，他對自己說，我又不是專門替人們送信的差使。
這100多封信，我到了南昌市後，要一封一封去送，那要花費我多少時間啊?
他在一個碼頭搭船的時候，他對自己說，我乾脆假裝這些信遺失了，我就不用幫這些人送信了啊。
他就立刻採取行動，他把這些信全部丟到河裡。
對於那些請求他幫忙送信的人，他心裡覺得有一點抱歉。
他在丟這些信的時候他對自己說，這些信如果有被別人撿到，那麼這些信就會有機會送到南昌市。
我對這些信沒有責任，因為我的工作不是一個信差。
他這件不守信用的行為被同船的人發現，他這個不遵守承諾的行為被記在歷史書中，後代所有的人們，只要書信寄丟了，就會引用這個成語。
這句成語直接翻譯的意思是這封信交給洪喬了。
這句成語被用來形容一封信寄丟了。
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。
你如果評價他的這個行為呢?你覺得如果他知道他做的這件事情會被記錄在歷史書中，他還會做這件事情嗎?
我期待這故事能讓你產生一些新的收穫。
出處為晉書-卷77-殷浩傳
https://zh.wikisource.org/zh-hant/%E6%99%89%E6%9B%B8/%E5%8D%B7077
出處為世說新語-任誕-31條