Lu Lun, the woods are black and a wind assails the grasses and yet the general tries night archery.

and next morning he finds his white-plumed arrow, pointed deep in the hard rock.

translation

In the dark forest, the grass suddenly swayed and rustled by the wind. The general thought that the beast was coming, so he quickly drew his bow and shot an arrow.

I went to look for the arrow at dawn, and I was deeply immersed in the stone edge.

note

① the song "Sai Xia"-the name of an ancient song. Most of these works are about frontier scenery and war life.

② fright wind-suddenly blown by the wind.

③ bow drawing-bow drawing and bow opening, which includes the next archery.

④ it's plain and bright-just before dawn.

⑤ white feather-the white feather at the back of the shaft, here refers to the arrow.

⑥ no-falling into, which means drilling.

⑦ stone edge-the corner of a stone.

This frontier poem tells the story of a general hunting tigers, and it is based on Biography of General Li, which was written by Sima Qian, a scholar in the Western Han Dynasty, and recorded the deeds of the famous Li Guang at that time. The original text is: "When you go hunting widely, you see a stone in the grass, thinking that you are shooting at the tiger, and the stone in the middle (zhòng) has no arrowhead. If you look at it, it is also a stone."

The first two sentences of the poem describe the occurrence of events: in the middle of the night, the mountain forest was dark, and suddenly the wind was blowing hard, and the grass was brushed by Joe and fluctuated; Frogman's landing place was in a trance, and a white tiger came at him. At this time, the general was galloping past the forest. He was quick of eye and shot with an arrow ...

The result of the last two sentences was that the next morning, the general remembered what happened in the forest last night and came to the scene along the original road. He couldn't help but be surprised: in the bright morning light, he clearly saw that it was not a tiger but a boulder that was shot by him. Fear crouched there silently, and the white arrow went deep into the stone edge! Please note that the place where the arrow enters is not a stone hole, a crevice or a stone surface, but a narrow and sharp stone edge-what arm strength and martial arts it takes!

someone wants to ask, why didn't the general shoot the tiger and wait until the next morning? The original story didn't say that I didn't know it was a stone until the next day! This is the artistic treatment of the poet. First, it can show the general's confidence. It has always been a hit. Are you afraid it won't die and run away this time? Second, it can increase the intuitiveness of the image and make people see it more clearly. If you watch it that night, you can certainly find that it is a misunderstanding, but it is difficult to achieve the vivid effect of the present picture.

Poetry pays the most attention to implication and the most attention to implication. Seeing the description of the arrow hitting the stone in the poem, we will naturally associate: what would it look like if it was really a tiger? What if you shoot enemy troops and horses on the battlefield? As a result, the image of a general with high martial arts skills, bravery and good fighting skills stood before our eyes.