Post 49 An extreme fear of something
There was a Minister who served under Emperor Wu of the Jin Dynasty. He was scared of exposing himself to wind and felt very uncomfortable to have wind blown against him. Once he had an audience with the emperor who told him to sit by a window. There were a few transparent screens shielding the seat from the wind.
Apparently as the screens were transparent, it gave an impression that the wind was blowing in from the window. The minister who had a phobia about wind hesitated to take his seat offered by the emperor. His facial expression showed that he had an extreme fear of something which the emperor was not aware of.
Emperor Wu then smiling asked his minister what it was all about. The minister then answered, “I am like a buffalo from Wu that mistook the moon for the sun and panted as if the heat was there.”
This idiom is used to describe someone who is extremely scared of something.
8 June 2010
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