A person of the state of Qi heard that Tian Ying, the king of the State of Jin wanted to expend the city wall of his vavasory Xue.

He then told a story of a big sea fish to Tian Ying, "There is a big fish in the sea. There is no net could catch it, no hook to haul it, nobody dares to bother it. One day it stranded on the beach and could not move. Now even ants and mole crickets could eat it the way they wish.

To Your Majesty, state Qi is like the sea. And Qi has protected you for a long time. So there is no need to build city wall in Xue. If state Qi was conquered, then it wouldn't help even if there was a very high city wall here." After hearing this story, Tian Ying stopped the plan to build the city wall.

一个齐国人得知靖国君田婴想在封地薛城扩建城墙的消息。

特地对田婴讲了一个大海鱼的故事：“城里有一条大鱼，渔网捕不住它，鱼钩也拖不动它，谁也不敢招惹它。一天，它不小心被潮水搁在海岸上，动弹不得。这时，骷髅和蚂蚁都可以想怎么吃它便怎么吃它。

如今的齐国对您来说就像海水一样，您多年得到齐国的庇护，还用得着在薛地筑城吗？如果齐国灭亡了，即使薛城筑得上顶青天，还不是一样无济于事吗？”田婴听了这个故事，马上终止了薛地筑城的计划。