The animal fables in the Warring States Policy organically combine the animalistic characteristics of animals with some people's social consciousness mainly by personification, which implicitly embodies some political views and philosophical thoughts, which is naturally appropriate and meaningful. For example, "The snipe and the clam contend" (Yan Ce II):
When Zhao chopped the swallow, Su said to him, "Today, I came to Yishui, and the clam exposed, and the snipe pecked at its meat, and the clam closed its mouth. The snipe said, "If it doesn't rain today, there will be a dead clam tomorrow." A clam is also called a snipe. If it doesn't rain today, it will die tomorrow.
Friendly grasp of each other's weaknesses, clinging to each other's weaknesses, only see their own advantages, regardless of the consequences. Through this imagination, people can learn from the struggle of ordinary animals against human society. Another example is "Smith" (On Chu Ce). With the help of the tiger's arrogance, the cunning fox scared all the animals in the mountains to flee everywhere. In fact, the tiger mistakenly thought that the fox was really a god and dared not eat it. The Warring States policy was used to show that the princes were afraid of the sympathy of Zhao Xi, the general of Chu, because he had the powerful power of the king of Chu behind him. Later, it was extended to an idiom, satirizing the slave general's bullying and fear of hard work by relying on his master's power.
Although some fables are not animals, they also use anthropomorphic techniques. For example, in "Terracotta Dolls and Pottery Dolls" (seven strategies and four strategies), the author grasped the characteristic that the soil eventually returns to its native land when it meets water, while the pottery floats everywhere when it meets water, indicating that a person (especially a ruler) cannot leave the fundamental place politically, otherwise it will be meaningless and meaningful to wander in a foreign country, which may be a folklore at that time.
Social fables exaggerate the stupid or unusual behaviors of some types of people in society through cartoons, which is extremely absurd and makes them more concentrated and typical, thus having profound educational significance. The protagonist of the story only knows his name as "someone", "someone" or "Song people" or "Chu people"; It may not be true, but there are similar phenomena in life. It contains the same sarcasm as a joke, but it alludes to a more general social problem, so it is different from ordinary life anecdotes and shallow jokes. A more advanced social fable, in addition to reflecting what the author wanted to explain at that time, often has a certain philosophical meaning.
Such as "Zizerl" "gild the lily":
If there is a temple in Chu State, give Sheren a drink. Scheeren said, "A few people don't drink enough, but one person can drink more. Please draw a snake, and the first one drinks wine. " A man's snake will be the first to drink. However, he drew a snake with a swastika in his left hand and said, "I can do it." If a person's snake is finished, he will say with a ten thousand words, "The snake is not solid enough. Can Zi 'an do it?" Drink its wine. People who make snake feet will eventually die of its wine.
The original purpose of this fable is to persuade the general Chu to show his glory. It's hard to see how important a noble is. You must be satisfied, or you will be in danger of being killed. However, its objective significance is more universal. It satirizes fools who make redundant actions regardless of objective reality, and reminds people that everything in the world has specific laws and cannot be surpassed at will, otherwise it may be self-defeating.
Another example is "The Opposite Direction" ("Weitzes"):
When the king of Wei wanted to attack Handan, Liang Ji heard about it, but he opposed it. He refused to apply for clothes and dust. When he went to see the king, he said, "Today, I came to see the people from the big bank. I drove them to the north and told the minister, "I want Chu." The minister said, "King Chu, will Xi be the north?" Said,' My horse is fine.' I said,' although the horse is good, this road is blocked.' I often use it. I said,' Although I often use it, this is not the way to Chu. I said,' My ruler is good. The better this number, the farther away from Chu! "Today, Wanimal wants to be the overlord, and he wants to believe in the world. Relying on the size of the kingdom and the elite soldiers, Handan was captured and its name was widely respected. The king moves more and more, but he is far away from the king. He still went north to Chu. "
The original intention of the story is to oppose Wang Wei's conquest of the world by force, but readers can realize from it that everything must be done in the right direction, otherwise the greater the subjective efforts, the farther away from the goal to be achieved.
Another example is the story of the bride making a fool of herself in the door recorded in Song Weice:
The Guardian welcomes a new wife. The woman got on the bus and asked the horse, "Who is the horse?" The charioteer said, "lend me." The bride said to the servant, "I have no clothes." When the car arrived at the door, I helped my mother and said, "If you put out the stove, it will catch fire." When he entered the room, he said, "If you move, it will hinder people from coming and going." The master smiled. However, if you laugh, you will lose it sooner or later.
The object of ridicule is a new daughter-in-law who speaks quickly, but the enlightenment that people can get is that they must choose the right time to speak and do things, and the philosophical meaning is also very rich.
We call a story a historical fable by adding a fictional plot to the words and deeds of some real historical figures, thus containing a deeper truth. It is different from reliable history, because some plots may be kneaded and transformed by later generations, which is obviously unreliable. However, unlike general folklore, its focus is not on the story itself, but on some viewpoints that the author wants to further clarify, and its function is not to find the historical basis of the debate. But as a figurative metaphor for reasoning. For example, in Qin Zell, the author made up this story not to defend Zeng Sen's falsehood, but to show that rumors are terrible and people admire them, reminding people, especially rulers, not to believe in public opinion. Another example is Yan Zell's "Bole is ten times more expensive than a horse". Bole is a famous horse expert. It probably doesn't conform to Bole's true character. However, the author's original intention is not to criticize Bole, nor to expose horse sellers, but to show that with the recommendation of celebrities, mediocre people will be worth twice as much. Of course, we can also learn from it, don't worship a false name, and we can't deny the goods. The purpose of "Scaring Birds" in Chu Ce IV is not to praise the archer's superior stunts, but to stop the seriously injured birds from being frightened. Metaphorically, a worried loser will not look at the important tasks entrusted to him. In the Western Zhou Dynasty, Yang was named a sharpshooter, and everyone agreed. A passerby only said, "you can teach shooting." Yang was very unhappy and asked him to teach shooting. The man said, I can't teach you to shoot, but I know that if you don't stop shooting, you will be exhausted and miss for a while, and all your efforts will be in vain. The main purpose is to get people to do things.
Most of the fables in Warring States Policy are complete in plot, clear in beginning and end, and relatively independent, not just as a rhetorical device of metaphor. The ideas they reflect are reasonable, close to social life, realistic and clear-cut. Unlike the fable in Zhuangzi, Wang Yang is arbitrary and unpredictable. The fables in the Warring States Policy mostly use oral statements, so some oral ones are kept.
The early annotations of the Warring States policy include Gao in Han Dynasty and Bao Biao in Southern Song Dynasty. Later, there were Wu Shidao's correction of the corner column of the Warring States Policy in the Yuan Dynasty and Jin's supplementary explanation of the Warring States Policy. In recent years, there are Zhu's Notes on the Warring States Policy, Miao's New Notes and Textual Research on the Warring States Policy, and Guo Renmin's Notes on the Warring States Policy. Zheng's Notes on Ancient Military Strategists is the latest research work in recent years. Zhang Wenxi's Theory of the Warring States Policy, Mu Wenxi's Comments on the Warring States Policy Garden, Chen Jiru's Long Xiang of the Warring States Policy, Qing Xinghui's Comments on the National Policy Forest, Chu Xin's Comments on the Warring States Policy and Gao Xian's Notes on the Warring States Policy.