From "Ma Shuo", it is an essay borrowing metaphors from objects by the Tang Dynasty writer Han Yu. It belongs to the essay style. It was originally the fourth chapter of "Miscellaneous Shuo" written by Han Yu. The title "Ma Shuo" is Added by later generations.

This article uses horses as a metaphor to talk about the issue of talent, revealing the author's cynicism and emotion and resentment at not being able to appreciate talents. It expresses the author's strong indignation at the feudal rulers' inability to identify talents, not reusing talents, and burying talents.

The whole poem (excerpt) is as follows:

There are Bole in the world, and then there is a thousand-mile horse. Thousand-mile horses often exist, but Bole does not always exist. Therefore, even though there is a thousand-mile horse, it will be carelessly grown and be grown dead in a stall, never being called as a thousand-mile horse. (Only humiliate one work: Only humiliate)

The translation is as follows:

First there is bole in the world, and then there is a thousand-mile horse. A thousand-mile horse often exists, but a Bole does not always exist. Therefore, even if there is a valuable horse, it will be humiliated in the hands of servants and die in a stable with ordinary horses, and it will not be known as a thousand-mile horse.

Extended information:

"The Story of Horses" is a reasoning article, which looks like a fable but is not a fable. It uses metaphors to reason but does not directly explain the arguments it holds and does not put personal Opinions are imposed on the reader. To describe the experience of Chollima through image thinking, he puts forward the facts and saves the need for words to explain the truth. The author uses function words in ancient Chinese (particles, interjections and connectives) to reflect the taste and artistic conception of singing three sighs.

Bo Le's allusions were cited several times by Han Yu (see Han Yu's "Book of Recommendations" and "Preface to Sending Wen Chushi to Heyang"), which shows Han Yu's rough fate.

"There is Bole in the world, and then there is a thousand-mile horse" is a question raised from the front, "There are always horses with a thousand li, but Bole is not always there", and the discussion is started from the negative side. It shows that the trusting relationship between Chollima and Bole is so close. In Han Yu's view, what the world lacks is not talent, but people who discover talent. Therefore, what is revealed in the text is the author's feeling of underappreciating talents and his anger and accusation that the rulers cannot bury and destroy talents.

"There is a Bole in the world, and then there is a thousand-mile horse." At the beginning of the chapter, a strange peak emerges, revealing something that no one has yet to say, and pointing out the main theme of the whole text. This sentence also contains an antithesis, that is, "Without Bole, there would be no thousand-mile horse." This illustrates the dependence of the fate of the thousand-mile horse on Bole. In other words, no one except Bole can identify a thousand-mile horse.

Baidu Encyclopedia - Ma Shuo