A tiger caught a fox in a forest, and was just about to eat it, when the fox
said, 'You mustn't eat me. I was sent by Heaven to rule the animals. By eating
me, you will violate the command of Heaven. If you don't believe me, just follow
me to see whether the animals are of me.' The tiger agreed, and followed the fox
as it walked around the forest. The animals all ran away on seeing them. The
tiger thought they were of the fox, so he let it go. He didn't realise that it
was him that the beasts were really of.
This idiom means relying on another's power to bully or frighten others.
老虎在山林里捉到了一只狐貍,要吃掉它。狐貍連忙說:“你不能吃我,我是天帝派來統(tǒng)治百獸的。你要吃了我,就違抗了天帝的命令。你不信,就跟我到山林里去
一趟,看百獸見了我是不是都很害怕。”老虎相信了狐貍的話,就跟在狐貍的后面走進山林。百獸見了果然都紛紛逃命。老虎以為百獸真的害怕狐貍而不知道是害怕
自己,于是就把狐貍給放了。
“狐假虎威”這個成語用來比喻倚仗別人的勢力去欺壓人或嚇唬人。
狐假虎威 【翻譯】Basking in Reflected Glory.