Author: Prince Cao Zhi 曹植,
Title: "Seven Footsteps Poem" 《七步诗》
Date: 192 - 232 AD
Cao Zhi was the son of the famous Cao Cao, the Emperor of Wei. Cao Zhi had great political struggles with his older brother Cao Pi who viewed him as a dangerous rival to the throne due to his giant intellect and literary abilities.
Once made ruler, Cao Pi decided to give his younger brother the death sentence to eliminate this potential rival for the throne. On the day of sentencing, Cao Pi gave Cao Zhi one last chance to redeem himself - if Cao Zhi could come up with a persuasive poem within seven footsteps of time, his life could be spared. Cao Zhi legendarily came up with the following poem on the spot and it was poignant enough to be able to touch the heart of his brother to spare his life.
The beans could be thought of as symbolizing the Cao Zhi being tormented by the power of the state within his brother's hands. The beanstalk could be thought of as representing Cao Pi - so eager to take out his brother that he is lighting himself on fire to do the deed. Perhaps "lighting himself on fire" could be thought of as harming his soul with guilt, or it could be a symbol of something much worse...
Most people think that Cao Pi let his brother live because was touched by the 3rd line of the poem that expresses how they are from the same root, just like the beans and the beanstalk. But I tend to speculate that a part of the reason for Cao Pi's pardon was due to fear, in that the 4th line of the poem functioned as a veiled threat - warning him to not "burn" Cao Zhi, or else Cao Zhi would have to "fight fire with fire". The phraseology of the poem expresses how they can "burn each other" hence showing that Cao Zhi might not go down without a fight. Given that Cao Zhi was very clever and well connected, it might be easy for him to have an assassination backup plan should his life be threatened.
ENGLISH TRANSLATION:
"The beanstalk burns to cook the beans.
The hot beans wail, as if to suffer.
From the same root came both of these.
Whence the rush to burn each other?"
CHINESE ORIGINAL VERSION:
煮豆燃豆萁，
Zhǔdòu rán dòu qí,
豆在釜中泣。
dòu zài fǔ zhōng qì.
本是同根生，
Běn shì tónggēn shēng,
相煎何太急？
xiāng jiān hé tài jí?
Somehow, Cao Zhi's poem also caught the eye of Elon Musk who tweeted it out 11/1/2021.
Perhaps a modern interpretation of this poem might go something like this -
“Humans are from the same ancestor,
why are we so eager to destroy each other? ”
Also by Cao Zhi: