A running horse and iron rooster epitomize the stinginess of a miser
“Casual Records of Night Talks,” a collection of mysterious short novels published during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), provided us with two common expressions about misers.
One story in the book takes place in Jinan, now capital of Shandong Province in east China, where a 50-year-old rich man lived with no sons as heirs. In ancient times, the lack of progeny to carry on the family name and inherit its assets was viewed as a flawed life. So, the rich man decided to marry a second wife, or concubine.
However, the rich man was widely known as a miser. He was nicknamed “Iron Rooster” by fellow townsfolk, for no one could pluck even a feather from it. He told the matchmaker that he wanted to marry a very beautiful woman at the lowest possible cost.
Smiling, the matchmaker replied: “Sir, you are a man who wants the horse to run fast but doesn’t let it eat grass.”
又要马儿跑，又要马儿不吃草
yòu yào mǎ ér pǎo, yòu yào mǎ ér bù chī cǎo
Today, the two expressions — youyao maer pao, youyao maer buchicao, or “to want a horse to run fast but not let it graze,” and tiegongji, or “iron rooster” — are frequently quoted in Chinese daily conservations to describe an extremely stingy person.
They might be compared with the eponymous character in the 19th century novel “Eugénie Grandet” by Balzac.
Karl Marx, the German philosopher who authored “Das Kapital” and co-wrote “The Communist Manifesto,” once said: “While the miser is merely a capitalist gone mad, the capitalist is a rational miser.”
铁公鸡一毛不拔
tiě gōng jī yī máo bù bá
