In ancient China, there lived a farmer who grew a stretch of crops. Every day, he went to the field to look at his seedlings grow. One day, he finally saw the young shoots in the field. He was impatient and wanted them to grow faster so that he might harvest the next day! One morning, he came up with a smart idea to help the young plants grow faster. He began working. He started pulling up the young plants one by one by half an inch.
When he finished pulling, he was very happy. He said to himself, ‘Look, look! How much taller the shoots have grown!’ He went home and proudly said to his son what he had done. His son was shocked. He went to the field and was heart-broken to see all the plants dying. The story demonstrates ruining something by disregarding its natural course. Thus, this Chinese idiom tells us not to spoil things by being over-enthusiastic.
