[WORDS TO THE WISE]Give somebody a chance

The Shang dynasty (1600-1046) is believed to have been founded by a rebellous tribe leader named Tang who overthrew Jie`s ruler, the last king of the Xia dyansty. Jie was tyrannical and dissolute and this aroused great resentment among people.

Tang took advantage of this critical moment - he defeated Xia and successfully established the Shang dynasty. Since he took over the country, Tang had been popular among people who thought he was a merciful king. And there was a story about him ...

One day, Tang was taking a walk in the forest and encountered a man hunting birds with a huge net spread across all four sides of the field. The man mumbled: "Come on, birds! Come into my net. All of you, whether you are flying high or low, east or west, Come into my net!"

Tang walked over to the man and said, "This is ruthless!" Tang then asked the hunter to cut the net down to leave one side open. He stood in front of the net and then murmured: "Oh, birds! Fly to the left or fly to the right as you like. Fly high to enjoy your freedom. If you don`t want to live any longer, please come into this net!"

This story spread to everyone, and they all were moved. They made a comment about the king: "If Tang can be so caring to the birds, he must be more merciful to his people."

Very soon, about forty tribes pledged allegiance to Tang.

Later on, people use this idiom to describe someone who shows mercy to give the wrong-doer a way out

By Catherine Chan

(chantunghung@netvigator.com)

Catherine Chan is a freelance writer based in Hong Kong and William Ma is a cartoonist and freelance illustrator based in Guangzhou, China. - Ed.