Carrying Thorns to Ask for Forgiveness

Reading level: Beginner

A veteran general resents being outranked by a scholar, and the scholar keeps out of his way — not from fear, but because the state needs them both. A graded Chinese retelling of how Lian Po and Lin Xiangru became friends.

战国的时候，赵国有一个将军叫廉颇。他很会打仗，为赵国立过很多大功。

赵国还有一个大臣叫蔺相如。他本来只是住在别人家里、帮人办事的门客，地位很低。

蔺相如两次为赵国立了大功：一次是带着宝玉去秦国，完璧归赵；一次是在渑池的一次会上，勇敢地保护了赵王的面子。

赵王很高兴，让蔺相如做了上卿，官位比廉颇还高。廉颇很不服气。

廉颇说：“我是将军，在战场上拼命；蔺相如只靠一张嘴，凭什么比我高？我见到他，一定要让他难看。”

蔺相如听了，就常常躲着廉颇。上朝的时候，他说自己生病；在路上看见廉颇的车，他就让车夫把车赶到一边。

蔺相如的手下很奇怪，问他：“您为什么这么怕廉将军？”蔺相如说：“我连秦王都不怕，怎么会怕廉将军？我只是想，秦国不敢打赵国，是因为有我们两个人在。如果我们自己先打起来，国家就危险了。”

廉颇听说以后，非常惭愧。他脱下上衣，背着荆条，到蔺相如家门口认错。

蔺相如原谅了他。两个人成了好朋友，一起保护赵国。

Sources

Records of the Grand Historian (史记 · 廉颇蔺相如列传), by Sima Qian, c. 91 BC — Principal source for the quarrel between Lian Po and Lin Xiangru and their reconciliation; a public-domain classical text.
Records of the Grand Historian (史记 · 赵世家), “House of Zhao,” by Sima Qian, c. 91 BC — Records the meeting between the kings of Zhao and Qin that the Shiji places at Mianchi, and the wider relations between the two states; a public-domain classical text.

History and legend

The quarrel between Lian Po and Lin Xiangru and their reconciliation are recorded in Sima Qian’s Records of the Grand Historian, in the joint biography of the two men, written about two centuries after the events; the Mianchi meeting that precedes the quarrel is also recorded in the Shiji’s “House of Zhao,” though the chronology of these years is debated. The Shiji gives Lin the line “先国家之急而后私仇” and describes Lian Po coming “肉袒负荆” to apologize, but the four-character idioms 负荆请罪 and 将相和 took their present form in later centuries. The Chinese retelling and English translation on this page are our own.