In the State of Chu, there was a man whose family was very poor. Even at night he often dreamt of striking it rich, but he never worked hard.

One day, when he was leafing through the book Huainan Zi, he came across a line saying: "When the mantis1 preys2 on the cicada, it relies entirely3 upon a leaf to conceal4 its body." He thought that if one could get such a leaf, one could become invisible.

Thereupon, he ran into the woods, looking for just such a leaf among the branches. He had searched a long time before he discovered a mantis hiding itself behind a leaf and waiting to catch a cicada. He climbed up the tree at once, and plucked the leaf. But he was in such a big hurry that, out of carelessness, the leaf dropped to the ground. There were many, many fallen leaves on the ground. How could he identify the leaf he had plucked? So he had to put all the leaves into a bamboo basket and carry them home.

As soon as he got home, he held up one leaf after another in turn to cover his eye, and kept asking his wife: "Can you see me?"

In the beginning, his wife always answered: "Yes, I can."

After a long time, she began to feel weird5: What was the matter with her husband today? Why did he keep holding up a leaf and asking her the same question?

He did this over and over again for one whole day. In the end, his wife got impatient and humoured him by saying: "No, I can't."

Hearing this, he became wild with joy. He turned and ran out to the street. Holding the leaf in one hand, he grabbed with the other hand the goods in a shop. But before he could withdraw his hand, he was caught on the spot and handed over to the local yamen.

楚國有個人，家里非常貧苦。他晚上做夢也想發筆橫財，但是他從來不好好勞動。

一天，他翻閱《淮南子》，讀到書中這樣一句話：蛙螂捕蟬，全靠有一片能遮身的樹葉。他想，人要是能得到這片樹葉，就能隱身了。

于是，他就跑到樹林里，朝樹枝上尋找這樣的樹葉。他找了很長時間，終于發現有一只膛螂躲在一片樹葉的后面，準備捕蟬。他急忙爬上樹，摘下那片樹葉。可是，他心急火燎，一不小心，手里的樹葉掉到了地上。地上本來就有許許多多落葉，他怎么能分清楚哪片是他摘下的葉子，只好將所有的落葉裝進竹筐，背回家中。

一到家，他就輪番著一片一片地舉起樹葉，遮住自己的眼睛，不停地問妻子：“你看得見我嗎?”

開始時，妻子一直回答：“看得見。”

時間長了，妻子感到很奇怪:今天丈夫怎么了，為什么老是這樣舉起樹葉問她?

他這樣反反復復，折騰了整整一天。最后，他妻子不耐煩了，便隨口敷衍了一句：“看不見!

哪知道他一聽，欣喜若狂，轉身跑到大街上，一手舉著樹葉.一手去撈店鋪里的東西。可是他的手還沒來得及縮回，就被人當場抓住，扭送到衙門里去了。

In the State of Chu, there was a man whose family was very poor. Even at night he often dreamt of striking it rich, but he never worked hard.

One day, when he was leafing through the book Huainan Zi, he came across a line saying: "When the mantis1 preys2 on the cicada, it relies entirely3 upon a leaf to conceal4 its body." He thought that if one could get such a leaf, one could become invisible.

Thereupon, he ran into the woods, looking for just such a leaf among the branches. He had searched a long time before he discovered a mantis hiding itself behind a leaf and waiting to catch a cicada. He climbed up the tree at once, and plucked the leaf. But he was in such a big hurry that, out of carelessness, the leaf dropped to the ground. There were many, many fallen leaves on the ground. How could he identify the leaf he had plucked? So he had to put all the leaves into a bamboo basket and carry them home.

As soon as he got home, he held up one leaf after another in turn to cover his eye, and kept asking his wife: "Can you see me?"

In the beginning, his wife always answered: "Yes, I can."

After a long time, she began to feel weird5: What was the matter with her husband today? Why did he keep holding up a leaf and asking her the same question?

He did this over and over again for one whole day. In the end, his wife got impatient and humoured him by saying: "No, I can't."

Hearing this, he became wild with joy. He turned and ran out to the street. Holding the leaf in one hand, he grabbed with the other hand the goods in a shop. But before he could withdraw his hand, he was caught on the spot and handed over to the local yamen.

楚國有個人，家里非常貧苦。他晚上做夢也想發筆橫財，但是他從來不好好勞動。

一天，他翻閱《淮南子》，讀到書中這樣一句話：蛙螂捕蟬，全靠有一片能遮身的樹葉。他想，人要是能得到這片樹葉，就能隱身了。

于是，他就跑到樹林里，朝樹枝上尋找這樣的樹葉。他找了很長時間，終于發現有一只膛螂躲在一片樹葉的后面，準備捕蟬。他急忙爬上樹，摘下那片樹葉。可是，他心急火燎，一不小心，手里的樹葉掉到了地上。地上本來就有許許多多落葉，他怎么能分清楚哪片是他摘下的葉子，只好將所有的落葉裝進竹筐，背回家中。

一到家，他就輪番著一片一片地舉起樹葉，遮住自己的眼睛，不停地問妻子：“你看得見我嗎?”

開始時，妻子一直回答：“看得見。”

時間長了，妻子感到很奇怪:今天丈夫怎么了，為什么老是這樣舉起樹葉問她?

他這樣反反復復，折騰了整整一天。最后，他妻子不耐煩了，便隨口敷衍了一句：“看不見!

哪知道他一聽，欣喜若狂，轉身跑到大街上，一手舉著樹葉.一手去撈店鋪里的東西。可是他的手還沒來得及縮回，就被人當場抓住，扭送到衙門里去了。