鹬蚌相争

Yù Bàng Xiāng Zhēng

两个人互不相让,斗得两败俱伤,结果让旁人占了便宜。

When two fight and won't give in, a third party walks off with the prize.

zàihěnjiǔqiándetānshàngyángguāngmíngliàngzhībàngchūshuǐmiànzhāngkāishàitàiyáng

zhījiàodeshuǐniǎofēiguòláikànjiànbàngxiānnènderòushēnchūchángchángdezuǐxiàzhuólejìnbàngxiàdeshàngjiāzhùledezuǐyòngchūláibàngyòngtáotáodiào

shuō:“jīntiānxiàmíngtiānxiàzhèbàngfēi!”bàng:“jīntiānsōngkǒumíngtiānsōngkǒuzhèfēi饿è!”

liǎngshuíkěnràngjiùzàizhèshíhòuwèiwēngzǒuleguòláiyǎnkànjiànzhènàodechǎngmiànxiàowānyāobàngjiǎnleláigāogāoxìngxìngzhuāngjìnlelǒuzi

zhèjiùshìbàngxiāngzhēngwēngdeshìgàomenliǎngrénxiāngràngzuìhòuchīkuīdewǎngwǎngshì便piányiquèràngbiérénzhànle

Long ago, on a sunny riverbank, a clam crawled out of the water and opened its shell to bask in the warm sun.

A snipe — a long-beaked water bird — flew down, spotted the tender flesh of the clam, and stabbed its beak inside. The clam snapped its shell shut in fright, trapping the snipe's beak. The snipe pulled and pulled, but could not get free; the clam tried to escape, but could not move.

“If it doesn't rain today, and doesn't rain tomorrow,” snapped the snipe, “you'll dry up and die!” “If I don't open today, and don't open tomorrow,” answered the clam, “you'll starve to death!”

Neither would give in. Just then, an old fisherman came walking by. He saw the two locked together, laughed, bent down, picked up both the snipe and the clam, and dropped them happily into his basket.

This is the story of “snipe and clam fight, the fisherman wins.” When two sides refuse to yield, they often both lose, while someone else walks off with the prize.