During the Han Dynasty, in the southwest there was a small country called Yelang, and although it was an independent nation, its territory was small, there weren’t many citizens, and its products were pitifully few. Because it was the largest kingdom in the near area, the Yelang king who’d never left his own country thought the country he ruled was the biggest on earth.

One day, the king of Yelang was on a national border inspection tour with his troops, when he pointed in front of him [to neighboring country] and said, “Which country is bigger?” In order to serve their own interests and make the king happy, the troops said, “Of course Yelang is bigger!” They walked along, and the king once again lifted up his head, gazed at the big mountain in the distance and asked: “Is there a taller mountain than this anywhere on earth?” And his men answered: “No, there’s no mountain taller than this one on earth.” After a while, they reached the river side, and the king asked again: “I think this is the world’s longest river.” And all his men said in unison “The king speaks truly.” After this, the ignorant king believed even more firmly that Yelang was the world’s biggest country.

Then one day, the Han Dynasty dispatched an envoy to Yelang, and en route they encountered the neighboring kingdom DianGuo, and the King of Dian asked the emissary: “If you compared the Han Dynasty and my Kingdom, which one would be bigger?” The emissary listened in astonishment, as he’d never have thought this small a country thought it could compare itself to the Han Dynasty. But he really never could have suspected that when he got to Yelang, the prideful and ignorant king who didn’t know that the kingdom he ruled was about the size of one Han county, would ask with an exaggerated opinion of his own worth, “Which is bigger: the Han Dynasty or my country?”

漢朝的時(shí)候，在西南方有個(gè)名叫夜郎的小國(guó)家，它雖然是一個(gè)獨(dú)立的國(guó)家，可是國(guó)土很小，百姓也少，物產(chǎn)更是少得可憐。但是由于鄰近地區(qū)以夜郎這個(gè)國(guó)家最大，從沒(méi)離開(kāi)過(guò)國(guó)家的夜郎國(guó)國(guó)王就以為自己統(tǒng)治的國(guó)家是全天下最大的國(guó)家。

有一天，夜郎國(guó)國(guó)王與部下巡視國(guó)境的時(shí)候，他指著前方問(wèn)說(shuō)：“這里哪個(gè)國(guó)家最大呀?”部下們?yōu)榱擞蠂?guó)王的心意，于是就說(shuō)：“當(dāng)然是夜郎國(guó)最大啰!”走著走著，國(guó)王又抬起頭來(lái)、望著前方的高山問(wèn)說(shuō)：“天底下還有比這座山更高的山嗎?”部下們回答說(shuō)：“天底下沒(méi)有比這座山更高的山了。”后來(lái)，他們來(lái)到河邊，國(guó)王又問(wèn)：“我認(rèn)為這可是世界上最長(zhǎng)的河川了。”部下們?nèi)匀划惪谕暬卮鹫f(shuō)：“大王說(shuō)得一點(diǎn)都沒(méi)錯(cuò)。”從此以后，無(wú)知的國(guó)王就更相信夜郎是天底下最大的國(guó)家。

有一次，漢朝派使者來(lái)到夜郎，途中先經(jīng)過(guò)夜郎的鄰國(guó)滇國(guó)，滇王問(wèn)使者：“漢朝和我的國(guó)家比起來(lái)哪個(gè)大?”使者一聽(tīng)嚇了一跳，他沒(méi)想到這個(gè)小國(guó)家，竟然無(wú)知的自以為能與漢朝相比。卻沒(méi)想到后來(lái)使者到了夜郎國(guó)，驕傲又無(wú)知的國(guó)王因?yàn)椴恢雷约航y(tǒng)治的國(guó)家只和漢朝的一個(gè)縣差不多大，竟然不知天高地厚也問(wèn)使者：“漢朝和我的國(guó)家哪個(gè)大?”