Minister Pang¹ Gong accepted the appointment of the king of the state of Wei and accompanied the prince to Han Dan to be the hostage. 

 

Before departure, he said to the king, "If someone told you that there was a tiger at the market, would Your Majesty² believe it?" The king said, "No, I would not." 

 

Then Pang Gong asked again, "What if a second person told your Majesty the same thing?" The king said no again. 

 

Pang Gong asked once more, "What if a third person told Your Majesty this again?" The king said, "Since everybody said so, it seemed it was true."

 

Pang Gong said, "There wasn't any tiger at the market at all. But just because three people said so, it became quite believable. It shows how formidable a gossip is. Han Dan is much farther away from here than the market is and there would be much more than three people who would speak ill of me. I beg Your Majesty to consider carefully before you believe what they might say about me." When Pang Gong returned from Han Dan, the king of the state of Wei did not want to see him any more.

 

大臣庞恭接受了魏王的任命陪太子到赵国都城邯郸去做人质。

 

临行前， 他对魏王说：“如果有人对您说，集市上有只老虎，您相信吗？”魏王说：“不相信。”

 

庞恭又问：“如果第二个人也这样说呢？”魏王依然表示不信。

 

庞恭再问：“如果第三个人还是这样说呢？”魏王说：“大家都这么说，看来这事是真的了。”

 

庞恭说：“集市上原本没有老虎，然而仅仅因为三个人说有，就容易使人相信，可见流言的厉害。邯郸离魏国比这里到集市要远得多，而议论我的人却远远不止三个，对于有关我的流言，请大王明察。”当庞恭从邯郸返回时，魏王已经不想再见他了。 

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