Among the precious cultural heritage left to us by our ancestors, the art of knowing people is one of them. The ancestors believed that we can see a person's inner world from a person's eyes, smiles, words and demeanor, and even his appearance, and even their blessings and misfortunes.
Throughout the ages, the ancestors have made many attempts on the road of knowing people. Some are seen from people's looks, some are seen from people's bones, some are seen from people's birth years, and some are seen from hands.
The ancestors of the people also summed up such folk experience and wisdom into a saying, among which there is such a sentence "It is better to call the dragon swallow the tiger than to let the tiger swallow the dragon", so what does this saying mean? What do the so-called dragons and tigers refer to?
The "dragon" in the phrase "rather call the dragon swallows the tiger than the tiger swallows the dragon" refers to the finger, and the "tiger" in this colloquial phrase refers to the palm of the hand.
The meaning of this sentence, naturally, is that I would rather make my fingers longer, if it is longer than the palm of the hand, it is the so-called "dragon swallowing tiger", which is a better omen. And if the fingers are relatively short, or even shorter than the palm of the hand, then the thing is "tiger swallowing dragon", such a hand, naturally is not as good as the finger longer than the palm of the person.
In fact, such a saying has certain limitations, that is to say, in the eyes of our contemporary people, this sentence is not very objective. There is no reliable set of data that shows that people with long fingers are better off than people with shorter fingers!
Then, why did the old ancestor come to the conclusion that "it is better to call the dragon swallow the tiger than to let the tiger swallow the dragon"?
In the eyes of the ancestors, the long fingers are generally more in line with people's aesthetics, and the people with long fingers are the signs of wisdom and wealth in the inherent impression of the folk ancestors. The shorter five fingers are, on the contrary, a sign of relative sloppiness.
At the same time, for the palm of the hand, it is also a long and thick palm is better, the old ancestor believes that the palm is long and thick, there will be a good wealth, and if it is short and thin, it is not a good omen.
There are many similar folk sayings, such as the old ancestor also said that "the noble ten fingers are soft and spongy, not only is it idle and blessed", "the man's hand is like a cotton, born idle", "the man's hand is like a claw, a lifetime can not be better" and so on. This is actually because rich people usually do not do some manual labor, so their hands are generally soft, delicate, and white. If it is a poor family, their hands often have to do some heavy physical labor, and they will naturally become rough.
However, such a saying as "I'd rather call the dragon swallow the tiger than let the tiger swallow the dragon" is actually different from the saying that "men have hands like cotton, and they are born idle for a lifetime".
Sayings such as "men's hands are like cotton, born idle" actually have a certain basis for life, which is a summary of the life experience of the ancestors. Sayings like "It's better to call the dragon swallow the tiger than let the tiger swallow the dragon" are different, and such sayings are often derived from the ancient ancestor's view of fate.
Confucius once said, "A gentleman has three fears: fear of the Mandate of Heaven, fear of adults, and fear of the words of saints." Confucius also said, "If you don't know your destiny, you can't be a gentleman." Not only Confucius, but also some philosophers in ancient times once explored the topic of fate. It is in this cultural context that the ancestors of the folk will also explain and summarize the theory of fate, which is an important reason why this saying "I would rather call the dragon swallow the tiger than let the tiger swallow the dragon" can be accepted by people!