Heard On The Street And Spoken of In The Road

Mau Kung, of the kingdom of Ch'i, loved to exaggerate. He once said to his friend Mr. Ai, "Some strange things have been happening around here recently. For instance, there's a duck that layed 100 eggs, all at once." "That's impossible," Mr. Ai replied. Mau Kung thought a minute and said, "Probably it was three ducks." Seeing that Mr. Ai still didn't believe him, he again changed his mind, saying, "Well, maybe it was ten ducks." He then continued, "Last month, a large piece of meat fell from the sky. It was thirty jang long and ten jang wide." Again, Mr. Ai did not believe him, and again Mau Kung tried to change his story to make it more believable. At this, Mr. Ai could stand no longer, and asked Mau Kung, "Who owns these ducks? And where did this piece of meat fall?" Mau Kung had no choice but to tell the truth, "I did not see it myself, I heard people talking about it in the street."

Thus, "Heard on the Street and Spoken of in the Road" refers to hearsay for which one has no proof.

道聽塗說

艾先生是齊國人，他到楚國去旅行，剛一回國，就遇見愛說大話的毛空。毛空說：「我們這兒可發生了新鮮事兒。有一隻鴨子一口氣生了一百個蛋。」艾先生笑了笑說：「哪兒有這種事兒。」毛空停了一下說：「大概是三隻鴨子生的。」艾先生還是不相信，毛空又說：「也許是十隻鴨子生的。」艾先生問：「你為甚麼不少說點兒蛋的數目呢？」毛空回答：「我寧願增加鴨子的數目，也不願減少蛋的數目。」他接著又說：「上個月，天上掉下來一大塊肉，有三十丈長，十丈寬。」艾先生不耐煩地說：「別胡說了，誰信？」毛空又一再改口，艾先生實在忍不住了，就問他：「鴨子的主人是誰？肉掉在甚麼地方？」毛空只好說實話：「我沒看見，是聽街上的人這麼說的。」