Throughout history, many four character idioms have had a historical story behind them. In this issue, the editor will take you to understand the historical allusions of referring to deer as horses.
This allusion comes from the “Annals of Qin Shi Huang” in the “Records of the Grand Historian”, which tells the story of Hu Hai and Zhao Gao who conspired to kill the young master Fusu and seize the throne after Qin Shi Huang’s death, and became known as Qin II. Then, Zhao Gao was appointed as the Prime Minister, who was in charge of the power of life and death. Zhao Gao had delusions of usurping imperial power, but was afraid that his courtiers would not agree, so he tried to conduct experiments.
One day, he took advantage of the opportunity of the court and led a deer to the Golden Hall, saying, “I have obtained a horse today and have come to present it to Your Majesty.” After seeing this, the Second Emperor covered his mouth and smiled, saying, “The Prime Minister was wrong. This is clearly a deer, how can it be called a horse?” So, the two of them argued in front of the court about whether it was a deer or a horse. Zhao Gao insisted that it was a horse, while II insisted that it was a deer.
The court ministers quickly divided into two factions around whether it was deer or horse. The honest courtiers insisted that it was a deer, while those who feared Zhao Gao, in order to please him, all said it was a horse. Zhao Gao asked his confidant to write down the names of the deer and horse people. Afterwards, those who spoke of horses were valued, while those who insisted on talking about deer were persecuted. Especially for the second son Hu Hai who insisted on talking about deer, he held a grudge. Later, when the peasant uprising army of the late Qin Dynasty approached Xianyang, Zhao Gao indeed ordered his son-in-law to kill Hu Hai.
From then on, people used the phrase ‘calling a deer a horse’ to metaphorically describe some people who confuse right and wrong and distort black and white.
The idiom ‘calling a deer a horse’ not only describes a seemingly absurd behavior, but more importantly, it reveals a distortion of facts and an intolerance for truth. When a ridiculous lie can be widely accepted, the serious pathology of society becomes apparent. This idiom can not only be used to describe certain extreme political actions in history, but also to apply to the pursuit of some erroneous concepts or distorted truths in modern society.
In contemporary society, whether in daily life, the workplace, politics, or other fields, the struggle between lies and truth has never stopped. We often see seemingly “illogical” things being believed by many people, and the reasons behind this are often due to personal interests, social opinion, or the influence of authority. Therefore, the allusion of “calling a deer a horse” has become an important tool for us to reflect on related phenomena.
