All poems

战国战国 · 文 Prose

守株待兔

Waiting for a Rabbit by a Tree Stump

韩非

Han Fei

名篇Masterpiece 寓言Fable 讽刺Satire

宋人有耕者。
田中有株，兔走触株，折颈而死。
因释其耒而守株，冀复得兔。
兔不可复得，而身为宋国笑。

A farmer of Song.
In his field stood a tree stump; a rabbit ran against it, broke its neck and died.
Then he let go of his plough and kept watch by the stump, hoping to get another rabbit.
No second rabbit could be had, and he became the laughingstock of the state of Song.

Listen

Meaning

A fable of barely forty characters. A farmer of Song one day saw a rabbit dash into a tree stump and break its neck; delighted by this windfall he abandoned his plough to guard the stump, expecting the coincidence to repeat itself. When no second rabbit came, he became the laughingstock of the state. The parable mocks the mind that mistakes a single lucky accident for a law of nature and would swap diligent labour for an easy gain.

宋国有个耕田的人。田里有一棵树的树桩，一只兔子跑过来撞在树桩上，折断了脖子死了。于是这个人便放下他的农具，守在树桩旁边，希望再捡到撞死的兔子。兔子当然不可能再得到了，而他自己却被宋国人当作笑料。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] A farmer of Song toils in his field. A rabbit runs into a tree stump, breaks its neck and dies. Pleased by this unexpected windfall, the farmer drops his plough and sits watching the stump, hoping for another. None comes, and he becomes the laughingstock of the state of Song.
[Structure] The forty-character sketch moves in a straight line - cause, development, outcome - and stops. No word is wasted; every clause sets up the next.
[Imagery] The stump (zhu) is the pivot. Useless in itself, it becomes bait for 'accidental profit'; the rabbit, proverbial for swiftness, dies by striking the one thing in the field that does not move, so the absurdity of the rabbit prepares the absurdity of the man who waits for it.
[Tone and Ethos] The voice never rises. The author never calls the farmer foolish or lazy; he simply reports that the man was laughed at. By handing the judgement to the onlookers, Han Fei lets the laughter itself perform the satire - and the reader, arriving at the end, finds that he too is among the spectators.

【白话串讲】韩非写《守株待兔》：宋国有个农夫，看见兔子撞死在树桩上，“因释其耒而守株，冀复得兔”——放下农具守着树桩等兔子。“兔不可复得，而身为宋国笑”——兔子没等到，自己被宋国人嘲笑。守株待兔。【意象与手法】这是一则极简的寓言，全文仅四十余字，却情节完整、因果分明：起因（兔走触株）—发展（释耒守株）—高潮（冀复得兔）—结局（身为宋国笑），一环扣一环，无一闲笔。语言以「者」「因」「而」「冀」等虚词贯穿，句式短促利落，最后以「兔不可复得，而身为宋国笑」一语收束，卒章显志，讽刺而不露声色。【情感与主旨】借「守株待兔」者的荒唐行为，讽刺那种把偶然当必然、妄想不劳而获的侥幸心理，告诫世人：治国理政与为人处世都不能墨守成规、坐等天上掉馅饼，而应顺应时势、勤勉自为。【名句点睛】「兔不可复得，而身为宋国笑」以因果对举收束全篇：偶然不可复制，痴等者终成笑柄，是先秦寓言「卒章显志」的典范之笔。

Background

'Waiting for a Rabbit beside a Stump' comes from the chapter Wudai (Five Vermin) of the Hanfeizi, the work of Han Fei (c. 280-233 BC), the greatest theorist of the late Warring States school of law. A royal kinsman of the state of Han, Han Fei stammered but wrote brilliantly, studied under Xunzi alongside Li Si, and, finding his advice to the king of Han ignored, turned to composition. Wudai sets out his view that history itself changes: in high antiquity men strove on moral grounds, in the middle age they competed with cunning, in our age they contend with military power. A ruler therefore must not copy the policies of ancient kings, any more than the Song farmer should wait beside the stump. The fable long ago detached itself from Wudai and became a common idiom.

《守株待兔》出自《韩非子·五蠹》，是战国末期法家集大成者韩非（约前280—前233）笔下的著名寓言。韩非为韩国宗室公子，口吃而善著书，与李斯同师事荀子。他身处战国末世，诸侯纷争、变法迭起，目睹韩国积弱不振、屡受侵削，多次上书韩王而不见用，遂发愤著书十余万言，成《韩非子》五十五篇。其学综合商鞅之「法」、申不害之「术」、慎到之「势」，主张以法治国、严刑峻法、奖励耕战，反对儒家的仁义说教与墨家的兼爱非攻，是先秦法家思想的集大成。《五蠹》一篇集中论述其社会历史观：韩非认为历史是不断发展变化的，「上古竞于道德，中世逐于智谋，当今争于气力」，治国者不能守株待兔式地照搬古法，而应「不期修古，不法常可，论世之事，因为之备」。这则寓言正置于「圣人不期修古，不法常可」的论证脉络中，以宋人守株的荒唐行为为喻，讽刺那些「欲以先王之政，治当世之民」的守旧派——在韩非看来，以古代圣王的治国方略来治理当今之世，正如守株者冀复得兔一样荒谬。此寓言此后脱离《五蠹》单行，成为中国家喻户晓的成语与寓言教材，其讽喻力历两千余年而不衰。

Art

As a piece of pre-Qin fable writing, the sketch is remarkable for its dramatic economy. Its three layers could hardly be tighter: the first narrates the accident in five quick clauses, the second records the farmer's decision in nine slow characters, the third delivers the verdict in twelve. The particles zhe, yin, er and ji bind the sentences into an unbroken chain, while the short clauses give the whole thing its clipped rhythm. Han Fei's technique is to let facts speak: he never comments, never moralizes in his own voice. Instead the contrast is built into the syntax - the objective impossibility (bu ke fu de) set against the subject's humiliation (shen wei Song guo xiao). The vocabulary is agricultural on purpose: a tiller and a plough-place the parable in the world of fields, so that the absurdity of dropping the plough lands with full force in a state that lived by farming. This 'narrate a story, reveal the moral in the last line' method became the standard shape of the Chinese fable, and its coldness is its style.

从文体看，《守株待兔》是先秦寓言文的典范：它脱胎于史传散文与论说文的论证需要，却独立成篇，以短小的故事说明一个道理，篇幅极短而寓意极明。全文可分三层：首层叙起事，「宋人有耕者。田中有株，兔走触株，折颈而死」——五句话交代人物、地点、事件与结果，因果连缀、一气呵成，「走」「触」「折」三字连用，写兔死之速、之偶然；中层写行为，「因释其耒而守株，冀复得兔」——一个「因」字把守株者的心理转折点出，放下农具、放弃耕作的「释耒」与痴心妄想的「冀」字，活画出其懒惰与侥幸；末层写结局，「兔不可复得，而身为宋国笑」——以「不可复得」的客观必然对照「身为宋国笑」的主观难堪，冷峻收束。结构上呈「起因—发展—结局」的直线式推进，不枝不蔓，把偶然性（兔触株而死）与必然性（复得不可能）的对照推到极致。语言上多用短句与虚词：「者」「因」「而」「冀」等字勾连，句句衔接紧密；「耕者」「耒」等农事语汇，显示寓言的生活化取材，使说理亲切而有力。其「借事明理、卒章显志」的章法，正是先秦寓言成熟的标志，与《庄子》寓言之汪洋、《孟子》寓言之雄辩相较，尤见法家文的峻峭与冷峻。

Allusions

The title image rests on an unglamorous object - a tree stump - which the fable quietly converts into an emblem of accidental profit. The rabbit is a loaded sign too: swift and nimble, the 'as swift as a fleeing hare' of the Art of War, it yet dies by striking something motionless, and its death prepares the reader for the still more absurd vigil that follows. Underlying everything is the farming world of the Zhou and Warring States, where wealth came from the plough and victory from the army, so a farmer who drops his hoe has forfeited his station. Out of this parable grew the idiom shou zhu dai tu and the shortened shou zhu and dai tu, through the centuries used to mock rigid, unchanging men. It stands beside 'carving a boat to find a sword' from the Lushi Chunqiu and the fable of the useless court musician as part of a family of Warring States parables that ridicule conservatism.

《守株待兔》虽为寓言，其意象与文化内涵却极为深厚。其一是「株」的意象：株即树桩，是田地中偶然残留的枯木，本无价值；但在寓言中，它成了「偶然之利」的象征——兔子撞株而死，纯属千载难逢的巧合，而守株者却把这种巧合当成可以反复出现的必然，株遂由「无用之物」转为「侥幸之源」，寓意贪图不劳而获者所倚仗的种种「靠山」，恰如朽株，终不可恃。其二是「兔」的意象：兔在先秦文化中本是敏捷善走之物（《孙子兵法》有「动如脱兔」），却「走触株」而亡，以极动之物撞于极静之株，本身就荒谬得近乎喜剧，正为下文守株者更荒谬的等待埋下伏笔。其三是「耕」与「耒」的农耕文化背景：先秦以农立国，耕者弃耒守株，意味着放弃根本之业而侥幸于偶然，这在重农的战国语境中尤显荒谬；韩非本人主张「富国以农，距敌恃卒」，守株者「释其耒」正犯了法家之大忌。其四是成语的流变：《守株待兔》自《韩非子》出后，凝结为「守株待兔」成语，又衍生「守株」「待兔」等语，历代用以讥讽拘泥不变、坐享其成者；其「偶然不可恃、不变必致败」的核心寓意，与《吕氏春秋》「刻舟求剑」、《韩非子》「滥竽充数」等寓言共同构成先秦「反守旧、重时变」的思想谱系，是中国先民朴素辩证法智慧的结晶。

Commentary

Thinkers have read the fable as the founding anecdote of Han Fei's historical evolutionism: because the world changes, affairs change and remedies must change, the policies of the ancient kings cannot govern today's people, and the piece can be read as the plainest possible manifesto for institutional reform. Its literary fame rests less on that argument than on its formal success - character, plot, conflict, and a closing line that delivers the moral without a raised voice. The word xiao does all the work: the farmer is never called foolish, and the reader, joining the Song onlookers in laughter, discovers the point for himself. The piece entered the Chinese primers alongside boat-carving and the court musician, and shou zhu dai tu has lasted as an idiom meaning both 'wanting what costs no labour' and 'clinging to outdated rules'.

《守株待兔》在思想史与文学史上均有独特价值。就思想价值言，它是韩非历史进化观的生动注脚：在《五蠹》中，韩非以守株为喻，论证「世界则事异，事异则备变」，反对「以先王之政，治当世之民」，这则寓言遂成为中国政治思想史上「变法维新」论最通俗的宣言，后世王安石变法、康梁维新皆曾引以为鉴。就文学价值言，它标志着先秦寓言文体的成熟：人物（宋人）、情节（触株、释耒、守株）、冲突（偶然与必然）、结局（为宋国笑）俱全，且卒章显志——末句点明寓意而不拖泥带水，开创了后世寓言「先叙事、后明理」的经典范式；其讽刺笔法冷峻含蓄，「笑」字一收，不着一贬词而讥刺自见，与《庄子》的汪洋恣肆、《孟子》的雄辩滔滔并立而自成一格。就影响言，此寓言后世被反复征引，《吕氏春秋》之「刻舟求剑」、《列子》之「郑人买履」皆与之为伍；历代文论史论引「守株」以讥守旧者不绝于书；至现代，它入选各级语文教材，与《刻舟求剑》《滥竽充数》并列，成为中国人最早接受的「寓言文体」启蒙读本之一，「守株待兔」一词更由典故化为常用成语，其「不劳而获」「墨守成规」的双重讽刺义，至今仍是汉语中生命力最旺盛的寓言词汇之一。

Prosody

Form Pre-Qin fable (a brief allegory written inside persuasive prose)先秦寓言文（论说散文中的寓言短制）

Rhyme Under forty characters, lines of four to seven syllables alternate without any rhyme; the rhythm is regulated instead by recurring particles and by the shape of the clauses. The particles zhe, yin, er and ji recur, producing a three-beat rhythm of quick, slow and cold.全文四十余字，句以四至七言长短相间，不押韵而以虚词与句式调节节奏：「者」「因」「而」「冀」等字穿插，形成「急促—舒缓—冷峻」的三段节奏，诵读时急缓分明。

Tone pattern Short clauses dominated by verbs (zou, chu, zhe) give the opening the speed of a released arrow; the middle clause, yin shi qi lei er shou zhu, is drawn out into two pauses, imitating a man crouched in wait; the close, tu bu ke fu de er shen wei Song guo xiao, reverses direction with the particle er and stops dead on xiao, turning from narration into cold judgement.句式以短句为主，动词连用（走、触、折）音节短促，如连珠箭发；中段「因释其耒而守株，冀复得兔」两逗一顿，节奏放缓，模拟守株者蹲守之态；末段「兔不可复得，而身为宋国笑」以「不可……而……笑」的反转句式收束，语调由叙述转入冷评，戛然而止。

Reading note The sound of this fable lies not in rhyme but in the interplay of short lines and particles. Beat one: the five opening clauses are extremely short, none longer than seven characters, and the three verbs zou, chu, zhe fire in succession; the voice must be quick and unbroken, as though witnessing the moment of the crash, then stop dead on si - the first full pause of the piece, gathering force for what follows. Beat two: yin shi qi lei er shou zhu, ji fu de tu - nine characters in two cadences, yin drawn lightly, shi qi lei a pause, shou zhu another stop, ji fu de tu drawn out to a slow close; the tempo slackens and the scene shifts from the running rabbit to the crouching man, from movement to stillness, from hurry to quiet. Beat three: tu bu ke fu de, er shen wei Song guo xiao - bu ke fu de falls like a hammer, and the clause turns with er so that the final syllable xiao lands lightly yet not airily, like a cold laugh. The three beats alternate haste and leisure, and the reader's emotional curve moves from the swiftness of the narrative into the coldness of the satire.《守株待兔》作为先秦散文中的寓言短制，其音韵节奏的特色不在押韵，而在「以句式的长短与虚词的调度制造声情」。全文可分三拍：第一拍「宋人有耕者。田中有株，兔走触株，折颈而死」——五句皆短，最长的不过七字，且「走」「触」「折」三个动词连续发力，诵读时须急促连贯，如目睹兔奔株撞之瞬间，声情在「死」字上骤然一停，形成全篇的第一次停顿，为后文蓄势；第二拍「因释其耒而守株，冀复得兔」——九个字两个逗顿，「因」字轻轻一拖，「释其耒」一顿，「守株」一停，「冀复得兔」缓缓收住，节奏骤然放缓，如镜头从奔跑的兔切到蹲守的人，一动一静、一急一缓，声情也随之由动转静；第三拍「兔不可复得，而身为宋国笑」——「不可复得」四字斩钉截铁，「而身为宋国笑」以「而」字反转，末字「笑」落音轻而不浮，恰似一声冷笑，为全篇画上句号。三拍之间，急缓相间、张弛有度，诵读时能明显感到由叙事之疾入于嘲讽之冷的情绪曲线。这种「以虚词调节节奏、以短句制造顿挫」的声情设计，正是先秦论说文「声入心通」传统的体现，亦为后世寓言与小品文的节奏美学开了先声。

Line by line

宋人有耕者。田中有株，兔走触株，折颈而死。

A farmer of Song. In his field stood a tree stump; a rabbit ran against it, broke its neck and died.

宋国有个耕田的人。田里有一棵树桩，一只兔子跑过来撞在树桩上，折断了脖子死掉了。开篇五句交代人物、地点与偶然事件，为后文蓄势。

There was a plowman of Song. In his field stood a tree stump; a hare came running, dashed against it, broke its neck and died.

「开篇五句以最简净的笔墨交代寓言的全部要素：人物（宋人有耕者）、地点（田中）、事件（兔走触株，折颈而死）。『耕者』二字先立起一个安分务农的劳动者形象，为下文其放弃耕作的荒唐行为作反衬；『田中有株』的『株』是全文的机关——树桩本是无用之物，却因兔之误撞而成了『偶然之利』的诱饵。三个动词连用尤见功力：『走』写兔之疾奔，极动；『触』写相撞之猝，极险；『折』写颈断之速，极惨，三字一气而下，把一次纯属偶然的意外写得如同喜剧小品，为全篇定下谐谑的基调。句法上五句皆短，主谓宾俱全，无一处修饰，如史笔直录，冷静到近乎冷酷——这正是韩非寓言『峻峭冷峻』的风格：不铺陈、不议论，只把事实摆出，让读者自己发笑。而『折颈而死』的偶然性越是突出，下文守株者的等待便越是荒谬，开篇的『极偶然』正是为结尾的『极必然』蓄势。」

The opening five sentences, in the barest brush, set out all the fable's elements: the person (a farmer of Song), the place (in his field), the event (a hare ran and struck the stump, broke its neck and died). The words 'the plowman' first set up the image of a law-abiding husbandman, set off below against his absurd abandonment of plowing; the word 'stump' in 'in his field stood a stump' is the whole's device - the stump, a useless thing, yet through the hare's blundering blow becomes the bait of 'accidental gain.' The three verbs used together show the craft: 'ran' the hare's haste, utmost motion; 'struck' the sudden collision, utmost danger; 'broke' the neck's snapping, utmost pathos, three words down in one breath, writing a purely accidental mishap like a comic skit, setting the piece's jesting tone. In syntax the five sentences all short, subject-verb-object complete, not one ornament, like a plain record of history, calm to the point of coldness - precisely Han Fei's fable style, 'steep and cold': no elaboration, no argument, only the facts laid out, letting the reader laugh. And the more accidental the 'broke its neck and died,' the more absurd the waiting below; the opening's 'utmost accident' precisely charges the close's 'utmost necessity.'

因释其耒而守株，冀复得兔。

So he let go of his plough and kept watch by the stump, hoping to get another rabbit.

于是这个人便放下他的农具，守在树桩旁边，希望再捡到撞死的兔子。中段写守株者的行为与心理，是全文的转折句。

So he laid down his plow and watched by the stump, hoping to catch another hare.

「『因释其耒而守株，冀复得兔』是全文转折的关键句，『因』字承上启下，写出守株者从『耕』到『守』的瞬间转变——一次偶然的收获便让他彻底放弃了正当的生产。句中两个动作的对照极具讽刺力：『释其耒』是放弃，他丢下了赖以生存的农具（耒），等于抛弃了勤劳本分的耕者身份；『守株』是等待，他转而守在树桩边，把命运交给不可能再发生的巧合。一个『冀』字（希望）更是点睛之笔：希望本是正常情感，而所冀者竟是『复得兔』——把偶然当必然、把巧合当规律，其愚昧可悯又可笑。从叙事节奏看，此句极短，与开篇五句的急促、结尾二句的冷峻恰成『快—缓—收』的三段式，中段一缓，守株者蹲守树桩的痴态如在目前。从思想内涵看，这九个字浓缩了全篇寓意：守株者所守的不是株，而是不劳而获的幻想；韩非以此讥讽的不只是寓言中的宋人，更是现实中一切『欲以先王之政，治当世之民』的守旧者。」

'Thereupon he laid aside his plow and watched the stump, hoping to get another hare' is the whole's turning hinge, the word 'thereupon' bridging above and below, writing the instant's change from 'plowing' to 'watching' - one accidental gain makes him utterly abandon the rightful work. The contrast of the two actions in the line most satiric: 'laid aside his plow' the abandonment - he drops the tool (lei) by which he lives, equal to casting off the toiling husbandman's identity; 'watched the stump' the waiting - he turns to guard the stump, committing his fate to a coincidence that cannot recur. The word 'hoped' especially the finishing stroke: hope is a normal feeling, yet what is hoped for is 'another hare' - taking the accidental for the necessary, the coincidence for the law, his folly pitiable and laughable. In narrative rhythm, the line very short, set against the opening's five urgent sentences and the close's two cold sentences in a three-part 'fast - slow - close,' the middle slow, the stump-watcher squatting by the stump as before the eyes. In thought, these nine words concentrate the whole's meaning: what the watcher watches is not the stump, but the fantasy of gain without toil; Han Fei's satire is not only the Song man of the fable, but all in reality who 'would rule the age's people by the kings of old's government.'

兔不可复得，而身为宋国笑。

No second rabbit could be had, and he became the laughingstock of the state of Song.

兔子当然不可能再得到了，而他自己却被宋国人当作笑料。结尾二句以客观必然对照主观结局，完成讽刺的最后一击。

The hare was never got again, and he himself became the laughingstock of Song.

「结尾二句是全篇的卒章显志，以十二个字完成讽刺的最后一击。『兔不可复得』是客观必然——兔子撞株而死是偶然事件，其发生概率近乎于零，等待它的重演等于等待奇迹；『而身为宋国笑』是主观结局——奇迹没有等到，自己反成了众人的笑柄。两句以『而』字对举，一写事的落空，一写人的受辱，因果相生、冷峻至极。妙处在于『笑』字的用法：作者不骂守株者愚蠢，不说他懒惰，只说他『为宋国笑』——把评判权交给旁观者，让笑声本身成为最锋利的讽刺；而读者读到此处，也正成了『笑』他的宋国人之一，在笑声中领悟了寓言的真意。句法上『不可复得』与『身为宋国笑』皆为短句，音节短促有力，如重锤落地；语气平静，不见一丝感情色彩，这正是法家文的风格——韩非说理，从不疾言厉色，而是以冷静的逻辑和事实让人无话可说。此二句亦为后世同类寓言树立了『卒章点题』的范式，其冷峻的幽默感，至今读来仍令人莞尔。」

The closing two sentences are the whole's 'closing reveal,' twelve words completing the satire's last blow. 'The hare could not be got again' the objective necessity - the hare striking the stump and dying an accident, its probability near zero, waiting for its recurrence equal to waiting for a miracle; 'and he himself became the laughingstock of Song' the subjective end - the miracle not waited for, himself become the mockery of all. The two sentences set by the word 'and,' one writing the affair's failure, one the man's disgrace, cause and effect born together, icy to the utmost. The genius lies in the use of 'laughingstock': the author does not call the watcher foolish, does not say he is lazy, only says he 'became the laughingstock of Song' - handing the judgment to the bystanders, letting the laughter itself become the sharpest satire; and the reader, coming here, becomes one of the Song men who 'laugh' at him, grasping the fable's true meaning in the laughter. In syntax 'could not be got again' and 'became the laughingstock' both short sentences, the cadence short and forceful, like a heavy hammer falling; the tone calm, not a trace of feeling, precisely the Legalist style - Han Fei arguing never in wrath, but by cold logic and fact leaving the other speechless. These two lines also set the model of 'closing reveal' for later fables of the kind, their cold humor still drawing a smile today.

Study

Word focus

株 In the field the zhu is a stump, the exposed root or trunk of a felled tree, worthless in itself. It is the pivot of the whole fable, since it is what the farmer fixes his hope on; but the blessing it once brought was pure chance, so the stump symbolizes accidental profit - something that cannot be relied on. The image also hints that what he leans on is decayed and lifeless, like a law that no longer bears fruit, which is why shou zhu has come to mean clinging to outmoded rules. 「『株』是全文的意象枢纽，指露出地面的树根或树桩，在先秦文献中常见于农事语境（《说文》：「株，木根也」）。本文中『株』字有三重作用：其一，它是『偶然之利』的物质化身——田中之株本属无用之物，因兔之误撞而一时成为『猎物』，它的存在使守株者产生了可以『复得』的幻觉；其二，它是『守』的对象与寄托——『守株』一词由此而来，守的是株，等的是兔，株成了侥幸心理的物化符号，故『守株』在后世演变为『拘泥不变、坐享其成』的代名词；其三，它暗含『朽不可恃』的意蕴——株为枯木残根，本无生机，把希望寄托于枯株，正如把治国之道寄托于过时的古法，终归徒劳。韩非选『株』而非『树』『石』等物，正取其『无用』『枯朽』之质，与守株者的愚蠢形成同构；后世成语『守株待兔』沿用此字，其讽刺力度大半系于这一个看似平凡的名词之上。」

释 Shi, 'to let go, to abandon', governs lei, the plough - the farmer's tool and his living. Releasing the plough means giving up honest labour; the man passes from tiller to idler in a single verb. The word also fixes his character by contrast with shou: shi is letting go of what one already owns, shou is waiting for what one does not. Pre-Qin fables are skilled at letting a verb depict a temperament - qiu in the boat-carving fable, ya in the uprooting fable - and shi is just as economical, for it passes judgement on the man without a single word of blame. 「『释其耒而守株』之『释』，义为放下、舍弃（《说文》：「释，解也」），是全文最见讽刺锋芒的动词之一。其妙处有三：其一，『释』的对象是『耒』——耒是先秦耕者的农具，是勤劳之本、生计之源，『释耒』意味着主动放弃正当的生产劳动，守株者由『耕者』堕为『待者』，身份随之一变；其二，『释』的动作发生在『兔走触株』的偶然事件之后，一『释』一『守』，弃实就虚、弃勤就懒，其侥幸与懒惰在动词的转换中暴露无遗；其三，『释』与『守』形成动宾对照——『释』是放下已有（耒），『守』是等待未有（兔），一放一等，写尽守株者『以偶然废必然、以幻想废实利』的荒唐逻辑。先秦寓言善以动词传神，《刻舟求剑》之『求』、《揠苗助长》之『揠』皆然，『释』字之精，正在于不动声色地完成了对人物行为的定性，为结尾『身为宋国笑』的冷峻讽刺作了最充分的铺垫。」

冀 Ji, 'to hope', is the only word in the fable that enters the farmer's mind, and it is the needle that prises his folly open. Hope is a normal feeling, but what he hopes for is a repeat of a coincidence, so the word shows him treating chance as though it were law, and the stump as though it were a source of income. The whole of his stupidity is condensed into this one earnest word: the more sincerely he hopes, the more pitiable he becomes. 「『冀复得兔』之『冀』，义为希望、希冀，是全文心理描写的唯一用字，也是刺破守株者内心的一针见血之笔。『冀』字之妙有三：其一，它写出守株者的心理机制——把一次偶然的收获升华为『复得』的期待，冀者，心之所向也，一个『冀』字揭示其已把『株』当作摇钱树、把『偶然』当作规律，侥幸心理昭然若揭；其二，它与『守』字呼应——守是行为，冀是动机，因冀而守、为冀而等，行为之痴正源于动机之贪，『释耒』的懒惰与『冀兔』的贪婪在二字间合流；其三，它是韩非批判的靶心——韩非认为人情好利而恶劳，守株者正是『好利』的极端样本，其『冀』正是先秦功利思想被推向荒谬的缩影。后世以『冀』写痴念者多矣（如『希冀』『冀望』），而此寓言中一字定调：守株者的全部愚蠢，都凝结在这个满怀希望的字眼里，愈是恳切，愈见可悲。」