A person of the state of Yue was deeply troubled by the mice loved in a pitcher1 and let the opening uncovered. Purposely he allowed the mice to eat the grains in it as possible, and would not intervene them at all.

　　After getting the benefit, the mice came in gangs to climb in the pitcher and feasted themselves with the grains inside, and then went back to their holes happily. Thinking that it is the right time, the Yue person replaced the grains with water, and placed some chaff2 on the surface of the water. During the night, the mice came in groups again excitedly and were not alert at all. They entered the pitcher orderly and none of them came out alive.

　　一個(gè)越國(guó)人被家中的老鼠弄得苦不堪言，便把老鼠最喜歡的谷子放在瓦罐里面。罐口也不蓋嚴(yán)，故意讓老鼠盡情地吃，一點(diǎn)兒也不干涉它們。

　　老鼠嘗到了甜頭，便呼朋招友成群結(jié)隊(duì)地趕來(lái)。鉆進(jìn)去大吃特吃，吃飽后高高興興地回洞。越國(guó)人估計(jì)時(shí)機(jī)已到，便將瓦罐里的谷子換成水，在上面淺淺覆蓋一層谷糠，興沖沖跑來(lái)的老鼠一點(diǎn)兒也沒(méi)有一個(gè)提防，在夜里成群結(jié)隊(duì)地再次光臨，它們次序井然地進(jìn)入瓦罐里面，結(jié)果一只也沒(méi)有活著出來(lái)。