Once, a fox and a hare became friends with the purpose of defending themselves against their joint¹ enemy, the hunters, and made an oath to each other: to the same life and death, through thick and thin. One day, they were enjoying the natural beauty together in the fields when a party of hunters came and shot the hare dead. The fox had a narrow escape. After the hunters had gone, the fox came and wept over the death of his mate.

 

An elderly gentleman who happened to pass by was surprised at the scene. Curiously², he asked the fox the reason of her bitter weeping.

 

The fox sorrowfully replied: "We are small animals. Being the prey³ of hunters, we had planned to defend ourselves against our joint enemy, the hunters, and promised to share life and death through thick and thin. Now our enemy has killed my companion. His death may mean the death of me tomorrow. We are real friends and real friends must share everything. How could I not help weeping!"

 

"Oh, I see. You have good reasons to weep over the death of such a partner," exclaimed the elderly gentleman.

 

The idiom, "The fox is sad at the death of the hare," comes from the story above, illustrating⁴ how one feels sad for the death or misfortunes of his companions.

 

从前，一只兔子和一只狐狸为对付共同的敌人——猎人，彼此联盟发誓：要同生死，共患难。一天，他们正在田野里享受大自然的美景，不料一群猎人突然前来，一箭就射死了兔子，狐狸也险遭不测。猎人走后，狐狸就跑到兔子身旁，哀泣悲悼。

 

有个长者经过，看见狐狸在兔子旁边哭泣，觉得奇怪，就问狐狸哭泣的原因。

 

狐狸悲哀地说：“我和兔子同样是微小的动物，是猎人捕猎的对象。我们相约共同对敌，共生死，同患难。现在我的同盟被猎人射死，他今日的死亡，意味着我明天的死亡。我们是真正的朋友，我哪能不伤心哭泣呢！”

 

成语“兔死狐悲”就源自这个故事，表示因同类的死亡或不幸而感到悲伤。

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