Donkey Has Exhausted Its Tricks--Qian Lu Ji Qiong

The Chinese of this idiom story "Donkey Has Exhausted Its Tricks--Qian Lu Ji Qiong"is 黔驴技穷, and Pin Yin qián lǘ jì qióng.


In ancient times, Guizhou （a province in China）had no donkeys. One day, a man full of fancy ideas shipped a donkey to the region.

But he soon discovered the donkey was no use, so he took it to a mountain and left it there.

A tiger saw the donkey and thought it was a mysterious beast. He hid himself carefully in the woods, and dared only to watch the donkey from a distance. One day, the donkey brayed. The tiger thought the donkey was going to bite him. But the donkey did nothing more.

The tiger soon got used to the noise, and moved closer. At last, he decided to provoke the strange beast. The donkey couldn't put up with this, and gave the tiger a kick. But the kick didn't hurt very much. The tiger knew this donkey was weak. He sprang on the donkey and made a good meal of the donkey.

Later, people use it to describe someone who is at his wit's end.

The moral of this story is that if you have no strength， you'd better lay low。

      贵州这个地方原本没有驴子，有个喜好多事的人用船运载了一头驴进入黔地。运到后却没有什么用处，便把它放置在山下。老虎见到它，一看原来是个巨 大的动物，把它当作神奇的东西。于是隐藏在树林中偷偷看它。老虎渐渐地走出来接近它，十分小心谨慎，不知道它是什么东西。

一天，驴子一声长鸣，老虎非常害怕，远远地逃走；认为驴子将要咬自己，非常恐惧。然而老虎来来 往往地观察它，觉得驴子好像没有什么特殊的本领似的；渐渐地习惯了它的叫声，又靠近它前前后后地走动；但老虎始终不敢和驴子搏击。慢慢地，老虎又靠近了驴 子，态度更为随便，碰擦倚靠、冲撞冒犯它。驴非常愤怒，用蹄子踢老虎。老虎因此而欣喜，盘算此事，心想到：“ 驴子的本领只不过如此罢了！”于是跳跃起 来，大声吼叫，咬断驴的喉咙，吃完了它的肉，才离去。 　　

      后来，大家就把这只驴子在黔地被老虎吃掉的这个故事演变成“黔驴之技”这句成语，比喻人有限的一点本领已经用完。也说“黔驴技穷”