荊宣王向群臣曰：“吾聞北方之畏昭奚恤也，果誠何如？”群臣莫對。江乙對曰：“虎求百獸而食之，得狐，狐曰：‘子無敢食我也。天帝使我長百獸，今子食我，是逆天帝命也。子以我為不信，吾為子先行，子隨我後，觀百獸之見我而敢不走乎？'虎以為然，故遂與之行。獸見之皆走。虎不知獸畏己而走也，以為畏狐也。今王之地方五千里，帶甲百萬，而專屬之昭奚恤。故北方之畏昭奚恤也，其實畏王之甲兵也，猶百獸之畏虎也。”
Jīng Xuān wáng xiàng qún chén yuē: "Wú wén běi fāng zhī wèi Zhāo Xī xù yě, guǒ chéng hé rú?" Qún chén mò duì. Jiāng Yǐ duì yuē: "Hǔ qiú bǎi shòu ér shí zhī, de hú, hú yuē: 'Zǐ wú gǎn shí wǒ yě. Tiān dì shǐ wǒ zháng bǎi shòu, jīn zǐ shí wǒ, shì nì tiān dì mìng yě. Zǐ yǐ wǒ wéi bù xìn, wú wéi zǐ xiān xíng, zǐ suí wǒ hòu, guān bǎi shòu zhī jiàn wǒ ér gǎn bù zǒu hū?' Hǔ yǐ wéi rán, gù suì yǔ zhī xíng. Shòu jiàn zhī jiē zǒu. Hǔ bù zhī shòu wèi jǐ ér zǒu yě, yǐ wéi wèi hú yě. Jīn wáng zhī dì fāng wǔ qiān lǐ, dài jiǎ bǎi wàn, ér zhuān shǔ zhī Zhāo Xī xù. Gù běi fāng zhī wèi zhāo xī xù yě, qí shí wèi wáng zhī jiǎ bīng yě, yóu bǎi shòu zhī wèi hǔ yě. "
Negative word 莫
Negative word 莫 (indefinite pronoun) does not have an equivalent word in modern Chinese. It can be interpreted as 'nobody' or 'nothing'. 莫 refers to the noun which occurs before it. In 群臣莫對, the negative word 莫 refers to 群臣, meaning 'none of the ministers could reply.' In later times (after Han Dynasty), 莫 became a negative imperative word 'don't do...'
The use of 之
之 in this lesson is used in three ways: 1. as a pronoun making a sentence a noun phrase; 2. as a possessive pronoun; 3 as a personal pronoun. The following examples are categorized according to the use of 之:
As a pronoun making a sentence a noun phrase:
吾聞北方之畏昭奚恤也 I heard that the North feared Zhao Xixu.
北方畏昭奚恤 'The North fears Zhao Xixu.' (S) becomes a noun phrase and it is the object of 聞.
觀百獸之見我而敢不走乎 (You can) see if all animals see me and don't run away.
百獸見我而敢不走 'All animals see me and they don't dare not to run away'. (S) becomes a noun phrase and it is the object of 觀.
猶百獸之畏虎也 It's like that all animals fear the tiger
百獸畏虎 All animal fear the tiger. (S) becomes a noun phrase and it is the object of 聞.
As a possessive pronoun:
今王之地方五千里 Your Majesty's territory
畏王之甲兵 Your Majesty's armed forces
As a personal pronoun:
虎求百獸而食之 之 refers to 百獸
故遂與之行 之 refers to the fox
獸見之皆走 之 refers to tiger and fox
而專屬之昭奚恤 之 refers to the armed forces
The meaning of 走