The Trojan horse

The captain stood on the high wall of the city of Troy. “The Greeks have gone and we’ve won,” he said. “They’ve tried to capture our city for ten years. Now they’ve given up and sailed away!”

“But look over there, ” a soldier said. “They’ve left a huge wooden horse.”

“Ah, yes,” the captain said, “It’s too big. The Greeks didn’t want to take it with them. Get some help and pull it into the city.”

That night, in the main square of the city, all the Trojans celebrated. They sang and danced around the horse, and made jokes about the stupid Greeks. “I haven’t laughed like this since my childhood,” the captain said. After the party, they locked all the gates of the city and then all went to sleep.

By midnight, the main square was empty, except for the huge horse. Suddenly a secret door opened on the side of the wooden horse. The horse was full of Greek soldiers! They quietly climbed out of the horse one by one.

The soldiers opened the main gates. The Greek army entered the city.

For ten years, the Greeks could not capture the city by fighting. In one night, however, they succeeded in capturing it through a clever trick.

The story of 100,000 arrows

This is a story about two wise men -- Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu. The Chinese people have told it for many, many years.

One day, Zhou yu gave Zhuge Liang and impossible task. He asked him to make 100,000 arrows within ten days. “No problem,” Zhuge Liang said. “I’ll bring you 100,000 arrows in three days.”

Zhuge Liang asked his soldiers to fill 20 large boats with many straw men. In the early morning of the third day, Zhuge Liang’s soldiers sailed the boats towards the camps of Cao Cao’s army on the other side of the river. The soldiers shouted and beat their drums loudly.

When Cao Cao’s soldiers heard the sounds, they thought they were under attack. However, they could not see through the thick fog on the river. Cao Cao ordered his soldiers to shoot arrows towards the sound of the drums and the shouting. Zhuge Liang’s boats were soon full of arrows.

Zhuge Liang’s soldiers then turned the boats around and shouted, “Thank you for your arrows, Cao Cao.” Zhuge Liang took all these arrows to Zhou Yu. There were more than 100, 000 of them.

The Art of War

The Art of War is an ancient book about the strategy of war. Sun Tzu wrote this book during the late Spring and Autumn period in Chinese history.

The Art of War is full of clever sayings. For example, “Know the enemy and know yourself, and you can fight a hundred battles with no danger of defeat.”