One day, Cao Pi called Cao Zhi to him and asked him to write a poem within seven steps to prove his talent in writing poetry. If he can't write it, it will be tantamount to deceiving the emperor and putting him to death.
Cao Zhi was sad and angry when he knew that his brother was going to kill him. He fought back his grief and tried to think about it ... Sure enough, he wrote a seven-step poem and read it out on the spot:
Boiled beans are held as soup and simmered as juice.
Soak in the kettle, and the beans cry in the kettle.
We are born from the same root, so why rush to speculate with each other?
note:
Individual characters, such as "ran" and "burning", personally think that ancient Chinese characters should be "ran". "Item" has been made "in", which is suspected to be modified by modern people. It is not as good as "item"!
record
According to Shi Shuo Xin Yu. Literature, after Cao Pi proclaimed himself emperor, has always held a grudge against his talented brother Cao Zhi. On one occasion, he ordered Cao Zhi to write a poem within seven steps. If he could not do it, he would be executed by Dafa (execution). However, his voice did not fall, and Cao Zhi answered and said four poems, which are the familiar poems above. Because it is limited to seven steps, it is called "seven-step poem" by later generations. It is said that Cao Pi was "deeply ashamed" after hearing this, not only because Cao Zhi showed extraordinary talent in poetry, but also because the poem showed that brothers are brothers, and they should not be suspicious and resentful, which naturally made the emperor feel ashamed.
This poem was written in a purely metaphorical way. The language is simple and clear, and there is no need to explain it. Just a little dredging in individual words and phrases, its significance is self-evident. "Douchi" in the second sentence refers to Douchi that has been filtered and cooked to make sauce. "Fen" refers to beanstalk, which is dried and used as firewood. The powder is cooked with beans from the same root. Metaphor brothers are too tight, give up on themselves and violate heaven, which is naturally unacceptable. The poet's clever metaphor and clever language blurted out in an instant, which was really amazing. For thousands of years, the word "born from the same root, why bother to fry each other" has become a common language to persuade brothers not to kill each other, which shows that this poem is widely circulated among the people.
This poem was first recorded in Shi Shuo Xin Yu, and then only four sentences were circulated, namely:
Boil beans and burn beans,
The beans are crying in the kettle.
Originally born from the same root,
Why are you in such a hurry to blow each other up?
Probably because it is still difficult to determine whether it is really from Cao Zhi during the communication. However, the author of Shi Shuo Xin Yu did not go far to the world of Cao Wei, which naturally has certain basis. Moreover, according to Wei Zhi's quotation in Shi Shuo Xin Yu, Cao Zhi also said that "words are justified and articles are written as chapters". Cao Cao once tried to use Deng Tong Que Tai Fu, and the success was remarkable, so Cao Zhi made such a good poem in seven steps. So we still introduce it to readers as Cao Zhi's works.
Of course, the style of this poem is not consistent with other poems in Cao Zhi's collected works, because it was written in a hurry, so it is far from the tempering of language and the exquisiteness of images. It has won the appreciation of readers for thousands of years with appropriate vivid metaphors and clear and profound meanings.