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.

 

宾梦到郊外游玩，看见一只公鸡用嘴一根一根地啄掉尾巴上的漂亮的羽毛，感到奇怪，并问侍者公鸡为什么要这样做？

 

侍者回答说：“它是害怕人们因喜欢他的羽毛而将它杀死作为祭祀用品。”

 

宾梦听后，急忙回到王宫，对周景王说了这个故事，并进言说：“公鸡都知道舍弃会给自己带来杀身之祸的美丽，更何况人呢？为了江山社稷的安危，大王您不妨将危及王朝的害群之马尽早除去。”宾梦指的是朝中的大臣分为两派，各自支持景王的一个儿子，他想劝秦王痛下决心，解决这一隐患，又不敢明言，只好用这个故事来暗示劝谕，周景王没有理会宾梦故事的含义，不久便亲尝到了这颗苦果。

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