朝三暮四

                                              

     战国时代，宋国有一个养猴子的老人，他在家中的院子里养了许多猴子。日子一久，这个老人和猴子竟然能沟 通讲话了。
     这个老人每天早晚都分别给每只猴子四颗橡子。几年之后，老人的经济越来越不充裕了，而猴子的数目却越来越多，所以他就想把每天的橡子由八颗改为七颗，于是他就和猴子们商量说：“从今天开始，我每天早上给你们三颗橡子，晚上还是照常给你们四颗橡子，不知道你们同不同意？” 猴子们听了，都认为早上怎么少了一个？于是一个个就开始吱吱大叫，而且还到处跳来跳去，好像非常不愿意似的。老人一看到这个情形，连忙改口说：“那么我早上给你们四颗，晚上再给你们三颗，这样该可以了吧？”猴子们听了，以为早上的橡子已经由三个变成四个，跟以前一样，就高兴地在地上翻滚起来。

                                                 

Long, long ago, an old man kept a group of rhesus monkeys as pets. He understood them very well and had great fun with them. Everyday, the old man gave acorns to the monkeys as a treat. They were all very happy.

But soon the old man’s supply of acorns began to run out. So he decided to cut their rations. One day, the old man told his monkeys: “From now on I’ll give each of you three acorns in the morning and four in the evening. What do you say to that?”
Blinking their eyes, the monkeys looked at one another and then began clattered angrily.

The old man said with a smile. “I'm sorry, calm down, calm down. How about four for breakfast and three for supper?” The monkeys quieted down and looked much more content. They jumped happily around their master as if they had been promised more food than before.

Comment：So from this fable comes the idiom 朝三暮四. The phrase was used to illustrate the idea that clever people can use simple trickery to deceive the stupid. More recently though, the idiom is used for someone who doesn’t know his own mind, and always changes his idea or plan of action.