揠苗助长 — “Pull up seedlings to help them grow”

Once upon a time, in the State of Song, there lived a farmer who was constantly worried because he felt his rice seedlings were growing too slowly. One day, he went to his field with a hoe, observing that the seedlings seemed to have barely grown. He pondered anxiously, trying to think of a way to make the rice grow taller.

Suddenly, an idea struck him. Without hesitation, he rolled up his trousers and jumped into the paddy field. He began to pull up each seedling a little bit higher. By evening, the farmer finally finished what he considered his brilliant masterpiece.

Filled with pride, he rushed home, eager to tell his wife: 'Let me tell you something amazing! Today, I came up with a great idea that made the rice seedlings in our field grow much taller!'

His wife was half-convinced and half-skeptical, so she asked their son to go to the field to see what had happened. Excited by the news that the rice had grown taller, the son rushed to the field. There, he indeed found that the seedlings appeared taller, but they were all drooping, on the verge of wilting.