A person in the state of Chu, trying to sell his pheasant（野鸡）, lied to people by saying that what was in his hand was a phoenix¹（凤凰）.

 

A passerby² believed him and bought it for twenty pieces of gold.

 

The passerby wanted to present it to the king of the state of Chu. But out of his expectation, the pheasant died the next day. The passerby did not value the money but regret that he could not present it to the king. This story went around the whole country, and every one believed that it was a true phoenix. 

 

Hearing of this, the king of the state of Chu was moved by the loyalty³ of his subjects. The king then called in the man who had wanted to present the phoenix, and gave him awards that were worth ten times the money he had paid for the pheasant.

 

一个楚国人为了把山鸡卖出去，谎称自己手里拿的是一只凤凰。

 

一个过路人相信了他的话，拿出二十金把它买了下来。

 

过路人想把凤凰献给楚王，没想到过了一夜，山鸡就死了。过路人并不痛惜金钱，只恨自己没能把凤凰献给楚王。这件事在全国传开，人们都以为那山鸡是只真凤凰。

 

楚王得知这件事后，也被臣民的一片忠心所感动，于是召见了要献凤凰的人，给了他买凤凰十倍的赏赐。

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