Fables satirize people who are obsessed with power.
People with lofty aspirations pursue nobleness, but they are not understood by secular villains. Villains who are greedy for profits use dark psychology to guess the behavior of people with noble personality, which can be described as eating the belly of a gentleman with the heart of a villain.
This story appeared in Zhuangzi, in which Zhuangzi was likened to a phoenix who only drank from a clear spring, while Hui Shi was likened to an owl who ate animal carcasses, which showed that a gentleman pursued a noble villain without understanding, but guessed the gentleman's heart with dark psychology and severely flogged some people who were obsessed with power.
Extended materials:
Quote from Zhuangzi <; Phoenix and owl > The lines of his story are as follows:
1. Zhu Fengxing —— Du Fu in the Tang Dynasty
Did you not notice that Hengshan Mountain in Xiaoxiang Mountain was high, and Zhu Fengsheng at the top of the mountain was screaming. It's very tiring to look around and ask for its group.
a hundred birds are caught in the net, and the smallest yellowbird can't escape. I am willing to divide the bamboo and the ants, and make the owl angry.
Translation:
You can't see the height of Xiaoxiang Mountain. There are phoenixes crowing on the top of the mountain. Fly sideways to find your companion, but tired physically and mentally, I lowered my wings and stopped crying. Someone is catching hundreds of birds in a net below. Although the yellowbird is the smallest, it is still difficult to escape. Willing to give food to ants, making owls angry.
2. Yong Huai-Ruan Ji of Three Kingdoms.
there are strange birds in the forest, which claim to be phoenix. In the Qing Dynasty, people drank Liquan and lived on the hills in the evening.
Gao Ming cut through Kyushu and extended his neck to look at the Eight Wastes. It coincides with the rise of business, and the wings destroy themselves.
once you go to Kunlun west, when will you return to Xiang! But hate is out of place, and it hurts your heart.
There is a strange bird in the forest, which calls itself Phoenix. Drink Liquan in the morning and perch on the hill at night. Cry resounded through Kyushu, craning your neck to overlook the Eight Wastes. Suddenly a gust of wind blew and the feathers of the phoenix were destroyed. I had to run to Kunlun and didn't know when I would come back. I only blame living in the wrong place and being sad for nothing.