荆宣王问群臣
King Xuan of Chu Asked His Court Officials
【原文】
荆宣王问群臣曰：“吾闻北方之畏昭奚恤也，果诚何如？ ”群臣莫对。 江一对曰虎求百兽而食之，得狐。狐曰：‘子无敢食我也。天帝使我 长百兽，今子食我，是逆天帝之命也。子以我为不信，我为子先行，子随 我后，观百兽之见我而敢不走乎？’虎以为然，故遂与之行。兽见之，皆 走。虎不知兽畏己而走也，以为畏狐也。今王之地方五千里，带甲百 万，而专属之于昭奚恤，故北方之畏奚恤也，其实畏王之甲兵也，犹百兽 之畏虎也。”
【今译】
楚宣王问群臣说我听说北方的国家都害怕昭奚恤，果真如此 吗？”众位大臣都没有回答。江乙回答道老虎捕捉各类野兽来充饥, 抓到了一只狐狸。狐狸说道。你不敢吃我。天帝派我来做百兽的首 领，如果你现在把我吃掉，就违背了天帝的命令。如果你不相信我的 话，我在前面走，你在后面跟着我，看看其他野兽见到我有敢不逃跑的 吗？’老虎觉得狐狸的话有道理，于是就跟它一起行走。野兽见到它们 都逃走了。老虎不知道其他野兽是因为害怕自己才逃走的，以为它们 害怕的是狐狸^如今大王的国家方圆五千里，有一百万军队，而这些统 统归昭奚恤掌管。所以北方的国家害怕昭奚恤，其实是害怕大王您的 军事实力，跟其他野兽害怕的是老虎一样。”
King Xuan of Chu aske his court officials, “I heard that all the northern states are afraid of Zhao Xixu. Is that true?” No one replied. Then Jiang Yi said, “Once a tiger was hunting for quarry and caught a fox. The fox said, You don’t dare eat me, God has sent me here to be the leader of all the animals. If you eat me，you will go against God’s order. If you don’t believe me, I will walk in front of you and you can follow me to find out whether or not other animals all flee when they see me?’ The tiger regarded the fox' s words reasonable and then followed him. The animals all fled when they saw the two of them. The tiger didn’t know that the animals fled in fear of him，but thought they were afraid of the fox. Now your territory is as big as five thousand Li. You also have one million armed soldiers. They are both under Zhao Xixu’s firm control So, the northern states feel afraid of Zhao Xixu. But in fact, they fear the military force of Your Majesty just as all the other animals were terrified by the tige. ”