西晋末年，八王之乱刚刚过去，北方的匈奴、羯等部族又起兵，中原陷入连年的战火。司州一带也不安宁。
At the end of the Western Jin, the War of the Eight Princes had barely ended when Xiongnu, Jie and other peoples rose in the north, plunging the Central Plains into years of war. The region of Sizhou was hardly peaceful either.
祖逖和刘琨都是司州的主簿，也就是管文书的小官。两人志趣相投，白天一同办公，晚上同盖一床被子睡觉，常常谈到天下大事。
Zu Ti and Liu Kun both served as zhubu — clerks in charge of documents — in Sizhou. They shared the same ambitions: by day they worked side by side, and by night they slept under the same quilt, often talking late about the affairs of the realm.
一天夜里，两人睡得正熟，远处忽然传来鸡叫。当时的人把半夜啼叫的鸡叫“荒鸡”，认为是不吉利的征兆。
One night, as they slept soundly, a rooster crowed in the distance. People of the time called a rooster that crowed in the middle of the night a “huangji”, and took it as an unlucky omen.
祖逖却一脚把刘琨踢醒，说：“这不是坏声音。”两人披衣起身，在院子里舞起剑来，一直练到天亮。
Zu Ti, however, kicked Liu Kun awake and said, “This is no evil sound.” The two threw on their clothes, rose, and practised swordplay in the courtyard until dawn.
此后，他们把鸡叫当作起身的信号，日复一日地读书、练武。刘琨后来回忆说，自己常常“枕戈待旦”，只怕祖逖比他先一步建功。
After that they treated the rooster’s crow as their signal to rise, and day after day they studied and trained in the martial arts. Liu Kun later recalled that he often “rested his head on his spear while waiting for dawn”, afraid only that Zu Ti would win glory before he did.
后来北方大乱，晋朝的朝廷迁到江南。祖逖不愿偏安，主动请求北伐，朝廷只给了他很少的粮草和布匹，连兵器都不肯多发。
In time the north fell into chaos, and the Jin court moved south of the Yangtze. Zu Ti refused to accept a divided realm; he asked to lead a northern expedition, but the court gave him only a little grain and cloth, and would not even supply proper weapons.
祖逖带着自己的部属渡江。船到江心，他敲着船桨立誓：不扫清中原、收复失地，就绝不再渡这条江。过江后，他在淮阴打造兵器、招募士兵，逐渐收复了黄河以南的土地。
Zu Ti crossed the river with his own followers. When the boat reached midstream, he struck the oars and swore that he would never cross the river again until the Central Plains were cleared and the lost lands recovered. After crossing, he forged weapons and recruited soldiers at Huaiyin, and gradually recovered the lands south of the Yellow River.
与此同时，刘琨在并州坚守晋阳，独自支撑北方危局，最终兵败遇害。两人的故事合在一起，就成了“闻鸡起舞”这个成语：自我约束、立志奋发，从每天清早做起。
Meanwhile, Liu Kun held Jinyang in Bingzhou, propping up the desperate situation in the north alone, until he was defeated and killed. Together their stories became the idiom 闻鸡起舞: self-discipline and resolve, beginning with every early morning.