春秋末年，东南滨海的吴、越两国互相攻伐不止。公元前496年，吴王阖闾趁越国国丧伐越，却在檇李之战中受伤身亡。其子夫差即位，命人站在庭院中，每逢自己出入便喝问：“夫差！你忘了越王杀你父亲吗？”
In the late Spring and Autumn period, the coastal states of Wu and Yue fought each other without end. In 496 BC, King Helü of Wu attacked Yue while it was in mourning for its old king, only to be mortally wounded at the battle of Zuili. His son Fuchai took the throne and stationed a man in his courtyard, who challenged him every time he passed: “Fuchai! Have you forgotten that the King of Yue killed your father?”
两年后，蓄锐已久的夫差在夫椒大破越军，勾践仅以五千残兵退保会稽山。范蠡劝他忍辱求和：留住性命，才留得住越国。勾践遂派文种卑辞厚礼，请求以臣仆之身入吴。
Two years later, the long-prepared Fuchai shattered the Yue army at Fujiao, and Goujian retreated to Mount Kuaiji with only five thousand exhausted soldiers. Fan Li urged him to swallow the humiliation and seek terms: only by keeping his life could he keep Yue. Goujian sent the minister Wen Zhong with humble words and rich gifts, asking to enter Wu as a servant.
在吴国的三年，勾践为夫差养马、驾车、打扫，行礼于前；传说夫差生病时，他甚至尝粪问疾，以博信任。伍子胥多次警告“越王为人能忍”，留之必为后患，夫差却始终不听，赦勾践归国。
For three years in Wu, Goujian fed and drove Fuchai’s horses, swept his paths, and bowed before him; it is said that when Fuchai fell ill he even tasted the king’s stool to diagnose him, all to win trust. Wu Zixu warned again and again that “the King of Yue is a man who can endure” — spare him, and he will be your ruin. Fuchai never listened, and pardoned Goujian to return home.
归国后的勾践“置胆于坐，坐卧即仰胆，饮食亦尝胆”——座位旁挂一颗苦胆，起身、吃饭都要尝一尝苦味，问自己是否忘了会稽之耻。他躬自耕作，夫人亲手织布，吃饭不加肉，穿衣不重彩，礼贤下士，赈贫吊丧，与百姓同其劳。
Once home, Goujian “hung a gall bladder by his seat: rising or resting he looked upon it, eating or drinking he tasted it” — rising from his seat and before every meal he tasted the bitterness, asking himself whether he had forgotten the shame of Kuaiji. He plowed the fields himself; his queen wove with her own hands. He ate no two courses of meat, wore no double-layered finery, honored the worthy, relieved the poor, mourned the dead, and shared his people’s toil.
内政上，越国“十年生聚，十年教训”：奖励生育以增殖人口，积粟练兵以充实国力。外交上，文种献计，贡美女宝器以骄吴王，高价购吴粮以空其仓，又散布流言离间吴国君臣。
At home, Yue followed the program of “ten years to breed and gather, ten years to teach and train”: births were rewarded to grow the population, grain was stored and troops drilled to build real strength. Abroad, Wen Zhong laid his schemes — tribute of beauties and treasures to inflate the king of Wu’s pride, Wu’s grain bought at inflated prices to empty its granaries, rumors sown to set Fuchai against his own ministers.
骄横的夫差一心北上争霸，凿邗沟、会诸侯，与晋国争盟主之位；伍子胥苦苦谏诤，反被赐剑自刎，死前留下遗言：把我的眼睛挂在东门上，我要看着越军入城。
The arrogant Fuchai fixed his whole ambition on the north: he cut the Han canal, convened the feudal lords, and contested the leadership of the covenant with Jin. Wu Zixu remonstrated bitterly — and was instead granted a sword to kill himself. His dying request: hang my eyes on the eastern gate, that I may watch the Yue army enter the city.
公元前482年，夫差率吴国精锐北上黄池会盟，国内只留老弱与太子。勾践乘虚而入，大败守军。此后数年，越国一再伐吴，屡战屡胜。
In 482 BC, Fuchai led Wu’s crack troops north to the covenant at Huangchi, leaving only the old, the weak and the crown prince at home. Goujian struck into the emptiness and crushed the defenders. In the years that followed, Yue invaded Wu again and again, and victory followed victory.
公元前473年，越军围困吴都。夫差派人求和，愿如当年勾践一般称臣；勾践心有不忍，范蠡却说：会稽的天命，今日才交到越国手里。夫差求和不得，以衣掩面自尽，自谓无颜再见伍子胥。吴国灭亡。
In 473 BC the Yue army besieged the Wu capital. Fuchai begged for peace, offering to submit as Goujian once had; Goujian wavered with pity, but Fan Li answered: the mandate that weighed on us at Kuaiji has only now passed into Yue’s hands. Denied peace, Fuchai covered his face with his robe and took his own life, saying he could not face Wu Zixu again. Wu was extinguished.
灭吴之后，勾践北上会盟，号令齐、晋，成为春秋时代最后一位霸主。范蠡功成身退，临行告诫文种：“飞鸟尽，良弓藏”，越王可与共患难，不可与共安乐。文种不久果然被赐死。
After Wu fell, Goujian convened the lords in the north, gave orders to Qi and Jin, and became the last hegemon of the Spring and Autumn age. Fan Li, his work done, withdrew — warning Wen Zhong as he left: “when the flying birds are gone, the good bow is put away”; the King of Yue is a man for hard times together, not for good times together. Before long, Wen Zhong was indeed forced to die.
两千多年来，“卧薪尝胆”成为中国人最熟悉的成语之一：忍常人所不能忍，以时间和苦功，把失败变成胜利。
For more than two thousand years, 卧薪尝胆 — “sleeping on firewood and tasting gall” — has been one of the best-known idioms in Chinese: endure what others cannot endure, and with time and bitter effort turn defeat into victory.