西汉时期,有一位名叫韩安国的中大夫。
他非常受梁孝王的喜爱和重用。
但是,后来韩安国犯了法,被关进了蒙地的监狱里。
在监狱里,有一个狱吏叫田甲。
他对韩安国很不尊重,经常羞辱他。
这让韩安国感到非常生气。
有一天,他对田甲说:“熄灭的灰烬,难道不会再燃烧起来吗?”
这是韩安国在告诉田甲,虽然现在他身处困境,但总有一天他会再次成功。
然而,田甲并没有把韩安国的话当回事。
他回答说:“如果死灰真的重新燃烧起来,我就撒尿把它熄灭。”
他的意思是,即使韩安国有机会东山再起,他也能够阻止他。
不久之后,梁国内需要一个新的史官。
朝廷派使者来找韩安国,并任命他为内史官。
田甲听说这个消息后,非常害怕韩安国会报复他,于是赶紧逃跑。
韩安国找不到田甲,就放话说:“如果田甲还不出现,我就会杀掉他全家。”
田甲听到这个消息,吓得赤身裸体地去向韩安国请罪。
韩安国看到田甲的样子,笑了笑说:“你现在这样子,就像在接受惩罚一样。”
最后,韩安国没有对田甲做什么坏事,反而善待了他。
从那以后,“死灰复燃”这个成语就被用来比喻失势的人重新得到权力;也可以用来形容已经平息的事情又重新开始活跃起来。
During the Western Han Dynasty, there was a middle-ranking official named Han Anguo.
He was very loved and trusted by King Liang Xiao.
However, later Han Anguo broke the law and was imprisoned in the Mengdi prison.
In the prison, there was a jailer named Tian Jia.
He did not respect Han Anguo at all and often humiliated him.
This made Han Anguo very angry.
One day, he said to Tian Jia, 'Can extinguished ashes never burn again?'
Han Anguo was telling Tian Jia that although he was in trouble now, he would succeed again one day.
However, Tian Jia did not take Han Anguo's words seriously.
He replied, 'If dead ashes really burn again, I will urinate on them to extinguish them.'
He meant that even if Han Anguo had a chance to rise again, he could stop him.
Soon after, the state of Liang needed a new historian.
An envoy was sent from the court to find Han Anguo and appointed him as an internal historian.
Tian Jia heard this news and was very afraid that Han Anguo would retaliate against him, so he quickly ran away.
Han Anguo couldn't find Tian Jia, so he said, 'If Tian Jia doesn't show up, I will kill his whole family.'
Tian Jia was so scared when he heard this news that he went to apologize to Han Anguo naked.
When Han Anguo saw Tian Jia like this, he smiled and said, 'You look like you are being punished now.'
In the end, Han Anguo did no harm to Tian Jia, but treated him kindly.
Since then, the idiom 'Rising from the Ashes' has been used to describe someone who regains power after losing it; it can also be used to describe something that has calmed down starting to become active again.