The dike of a thousand miles is broken in the ant nest

The dike of a thousand miles is broken in the ant nest

With a thousand Li dike, destroyed in the ant nest. It means that the long levee often collapses because of the ant (termite) cave. It is used to describe that carelessness in small things will lead to great disaster.

Idiom information

[idiom] the dike of a thousand miles, broken in the ant nest [phonetic] Qi ā NL ǐ zh ī D ī, Ku ì y ú y ǐ Xu é ] destroy: destroy. Nest: the nest of an ant (termite). It refers to a very long dyke, because it will be destroyed in the end due to the bite of small ants and insects. It means not paying attention to small things will lead to disaster or not paying attention to small things will cause serious losses.

The origin of Idioms

The dike of a thousand feet is broken by the burrows of ants; the room of a hundred feet is burned by the smoke of a sudden gap. Han Fei's Han Feizi Yu Lao in the pre Qin period: the dike of a thousand li: the hole of a mole is leaking, and the house of a hundred searches is burning with the smoke of a sudden gap. Huainanzi: Human Training

Idiom story

Story one

During the Warring States period, Bai Gui, the Prime Minister of the state of Wei, made great achievements in flood control. He was good at building embankments for flood control, and made frequent inspections. When he found a small hole, even a tiny ant hole, he immediately sent someone to fill it, so as not to let it leak, so as to avoid the gradual expansion of the small hole, burst, and cause major disasters. During Bai Gui's tenure as Wei prime minister, there was no flood in the state of Wei.

Story 2

There is a village near the Bank of the Yellow River. In order to prevent the flood of the Yellow River, farmers built a towering dike. One day, an old farmer happened to find that the ant nest suddenly increased a lot. The farmer thought, will these ant nests affect the safety of the levee? He was going back to the village to report when he met his son on the way. Old farmer's son listened to disapprove, said: so strong levee, still afraid of a few small ants? The old farmers went to the fields together. That night, with the wind and rain, the water in the Yellow River surged up, and the roaring water began to seep out of the ant nest, then spurted, and finally the dike was broken and the people were flooded.