Once, Sun Quan of Wu gave Cao Cao an elephant, and Cao Cao was very happy. On the day when the elephant was transported to Xuchang, Cao Cao led the civil and military officials and his youngest son, Cao Chong, to see it.
Cao Cao's people have never seen an elephant. The elephant is tall and big, and its legs are as thick as the pillars of the hall. When people get closer, they can't reach its stomach.
Cao Cao said to everyone, "This elephant is really big, but how much does it weigh?" Can any of you weigh it? "ah! How can you call such a big guy? Ministers are talking about it.
One said, "just build a top scale."
Another said, "How big a scale this needs! Besides, elephants are alive and there is no way to weigh them! I think we must kill it, cut it into pieces and weigh it. "
Hardly had he finished speaking when everyone burst out laughing. Everyone said, "What a stupid way you are! Isn't it a pity to kill an elephant alive in order to weigh it? "
Ministers tried many methods, but none of them worked. It's really embarrassing.
At this time, a child came out of the crowd and said to Cao Cao, "Dad, I have a way to call an elephant."
Seeing that Cao Chong was his favorite son, Cao Cao smiled and said, "What can you do at a young age? Tell it to me and see if it makes sense. "
Cao Chong said. Hearing this, Cao Cao cheered again and again, ordered the left and right sides to prepare elephants at once, and then said to his ministers, "Go! Let's go to the river to see elephants! "
Ministers followed Cao Cao to the river. There was a big boat parked in the river, and Cao Chong had an elephant brought on board. When the ship was stabilized, a road was carved on the horizontal plane of the ship's side. Then let people take the elephant to the shore, put the stones, big and small, on the boat one by one, and the boat will sink bit by bit. When the hull sank to the same height as the water, Cao Chong told people to stop loading stones.
The ministers opened their eyes wide, but at first they didn't understand what was going on. When they saw this, they couldn't help exclaiming, "Good idea! Good idea! " Now, as we all know, just weigh all the stones on the boat and add up the weights, and you will know how heavy the elephant is.
Cao Cao was naturally happier. He squinted at his son and looked at the ministers proudly, as if to himself: "You are not as clever as my little son!" " "
Kong Rong gave up the biggest pear.
When Kong Rong was a child, he was smart, studious, flexible and answered irrelevant questions. Everyone praised him as a child prodigy. At the age of four, he could recite many poems and poems, and he knew manners. His parents love him very much.
One day, my father's friend sent me a plate of pears. My father asked Kong Rong and his seven brothers to choose from the youngest brother. My brother picked the biggest pear first, and Kong Rong picked the smallest pear and said, "I am young, so I should eat the small pear and give the rest to my brothers." Father was very surprised and asked, "Is that brother younger than you?" Kong Rong said: "Because I am a younger brother, my younger brother is younger than me, so I should let him go." Kong Rong let the story of pear spread all over Qufu, and it has been handed down all the time, which has become a good example for many parents to educate their children.
"When you are four years old, you can make pears." It is from this allusion.
When Kong Rong was a child, he not only studied hard, but also was good at thinking. Father always takes him with him when he goes out to visit guests. 10 years old, came to Luoyang with his father. When Kong Rong saw that Mars, the prefect of Luoyang, was an official, he went to the mansion. At this time, the doorman quickly grabbed him and asked, "Which child are you? Go and play! " Kong Rong replied seriously: "Please go in and announce that Kong Rong, Shandong Province is visiting." "The gatekeeper saw that he was serious and didn't know who he was. He smiled and asked, "Little childe, do you have any red stickers?" "Kong Rong said," My family has been in contact with your master for generations. You don't need a red sticker, just notice. "The gatekeeper was afraid of mistreating the distinguished guests, so he had to go in and report back. At this time, Mars was talking with many literati. After listening to the briefing, he couldn't remember the relationship between Kong Rong and his family for a while, so he had to laugh and say, "Come in!" Kong Rong Jr. walked into the hall excitedly, greeting the host and guests, with a supercilious attitude. When giving up his seat, Mars looked at the handsome boy and wondered, This child has never met before, but why does he claim to know his family? So, Mars asked, "Little Childe, you said that our two families have been friends for generations. Why can't I remember! Kong Rong said with a smile, "Five hundred years ago, Confucius asked Lao Tzu for a gift. Confucius' surname is Kong, and Laozi's surname is Li. It can be seen that Confucius and Li have a teacher-student relationship for 500 years. Today, your surname is Li and my surname is Kong. It is also a teacher-student relationship. Aren't our two families a family for life? "
Kong Rong surprised everyone, and all the guests here were secretly amazed. Li Ying, the satrap, couldn't help laughing: "Little childe is really a child prodigy." Only Dr. Yang Chen, a Chinese medicine doctor, disagreed and said coldly, "People who are smart when they are young may not succeed when they grow up." Facing the challenge, Kong Rong said with a smile: "In this way, Mr. Wang must have been very smart when he was a child." This clever answer made Chen Wei blush and speechless, and secretly sat there angry. Kong Rong else, pretending to be an adult, seriously drinking tea, made everyone laugh.
The story of Sima Guang smashing a jar
Once, he and his friends were playing in the backyard. There is a big water tank in the yard. A child climbed to the edge of the tank and accidentally fell into the tank factory. The water tank is very deep, and it seems that the child is going to have no roof. When other children saw that something was wrong, they cried and cried in fear and ran outside to ask adults for help. Sima Guang, however, used his quick wits to pick up a big stone from the ground and hit it hard at the water tank. "bang!" The water tank was broken, the water in the tank came out, and the child who was submerged in the water was saved. Xiao Sima Guang was calm when he was in trouble, and he was like an adult since he was a child. This is the story of "Sima Guang smashing a jar" that has been passed down to this day. This accidental event made Xiao Sima Guang famous, and people in Tokyo and Luoyang painted it and spread it widely.
Wang Xianzhi studied calligraphy.
Wang Xianzhi, the seventh son of Wang Xizhi, was smart and studious since childhood. He is good at cursive script and official script, and he is good at painting. He began to learn calligraphy at the age of seven or eight and studied under his father. On one occasion, Wang Xizhi saw that Xianzhi was practicing calligraphy attentively, so he quietly walked behind him and suddenly reached out to draw a brush in his hand. Xianzhi held the pen tightly and was not pulled out. The father was very happy and praised: "This son is going to be famous again." Xiaoxian was smug after hearing this. Another time, a friend of Xizhi asked Xian to write on a fan, and then he wrote with a brush. Suddenly, the pen fell on the fan and polluted the words. Xiaoxian had a brainwave and a calf came alive on the fan. In addition, people are full of praise for the calligraphy and painting provided, and the small quotation has cultivated pride. It was thoughtful of its parents to see this scene. ...
One day, Xiao Xianzhi asked her mother Xi, "I only need to write for another three years, right?" Mom shook her head. "Five years of head office?" Mother shook her head again. In desperation, he said to his mother, "How long do you think it will take?" "Remember, after writing this 18 jar of water in the yard, your handwriting will be strong and your bones will be full, and you will stand straight and steady." My father stood behind him when I turned around. Wang Xianzhi refused to accept it and said nothing. He gritted his teeth for five years and showed his father a lot of written words, hoping to hear a few words of praise. Who knows, Wang Xizhi shook his head one by one. When the word "big" was raised, my father showed a satisfied expression, filled in a dot casually under the word "big", and then returned all the manuscripts to the dedication.
Xiaoxian was still not satisfied, so he showed all his calligraphy to his mother and said, "I practiced for another five years, completely according to my father's words." Look carefully, what's the difference between my dad and me? " Mother really looked at it carefully for three days, and finally pointed to the point added by Wang Xizhi under the word "big" and sighed and said, "My son has worn out three tanks of water, only a little like Xihe."
After listening to this, he was very discouraged and said weakly, "It's difficult! If this continues, when will there be good results? " Seeing that his arrogance had disappeared, his mother encouraged him to say, "Son, as long as you work hard, there is no river you can't cross or mountain you can't climb. As long as you keep practicing as you have in recent years, you will certainly achieve your goal! "
After listening to the dedication, I was deeply moved and kept practicing. Everything comes to him who waits. He used 18 buckets of water to practice calligraphy, and calligraphy made rapid progress. Later, Wang Xianzhi's writing reached the level of penetrating paper and perfection. His ci is juxtaposed with Wang Xizhi and is called "Two Kings".