Once Bin1 Meng went outing on the suburbs. He was surprised to see a rooster pulling out its tail feathers and asked the waiter why the rooster did so.

　　The waiter replied, "It is afraid that people will kill it as a sacrifice because they like its feathers."

　　Hearing this, Bin Meng hurried back to the royal palace and told this story to King Zhoujinwang, and advised, "Even the rooster knows it should give up its beautiful feather that will bring about a fatal disaster, let alone people. For the sake of the safety of the state, Your Majesty2 had better get rid of al the black sheep in the government as soon as possible." Bin Meng was alluding3 to the two cliques4 in the imperial court that each supported one of the two sons of the king. He wanted to persuade the king to make up his mind and resolve the hidden trouble. It wasn't wise of him to say it directly so he used this story to imply his advise. But the king didn't get the message in this story, and before long he had to eat the bitter fruit.

　　賓夢(mèng)到郊外游玩，看見一只公雞用嘴一根一根地啄掉尾巴上的漂亮的羽毛，感到奇怪，并問侍者公雞為什么要這樣做？

　　侍者回答說(shuō)：“它是害怕人們因喜歡他的羽毛而將它殺死作為祭祀用品。”

　　賓夢(mèng)聽后，急忙回到王宮，對(duì)周景王說(shuō)了這個(gè)故事，并進(jìn)言說(shuō)：“公雞都知道舍棄會(huì)給自己帶來(lái)殺身之禍的美麗，更何況人呢？為了江山社稷的安危，大王您不妨將危及王朝的害群之馬盡早除去。”賓夢(mèng)指的是朝中的大臣分為兩派，各自支持景王的一個(gè)兒子，他想勸秦王痛下決心，解決這一隱患，又不敢明言，只好用這個(gè)故事來(lái)暗示勸諭，周景王沒有理會(huì)賓夢(mèng)故事的含義，不久便親嘗到了這顆苦果。