In ancient Song State, a farmer was tilling his field when he saw a wild hare racing toward him; it crashed into a protruding tree root, broke its neck, and died instantly.
The delighted farmer rushed over, picked up the dead rabbit, and took it home for a hearty meal.
After this lucky break, the farmer abandoned his plow entirely. Day after day, he sat by that stump, waiting for another rabbit to dash itself to death.
A day passed, then two, then ten—the farmer never saw another rabbit hit the tree, but his field lay barren and overgrown. People across the Song Kingdom laughed at his foolishness, and the story spread far and wide.
A farmer once saw a wild rabbit accidentally dash itself against a tree stump and die. Taking this rare stroke of luck as a reliable pattern, he abandoned his plow and waited daily by that stump for another rabbit to meet the same fate. This foolish idleness, rooted in mistaking a fluke for a law of nature, became a timeless warning against trading honest labor for lazy hope.
Later, people used "Waiting by the Stump" to describe those who avoid steady work, hoping for lucky gains or success, or those who rigidly cling to narrow experience and fail to adapt to changing circumstances.
Source: *Han Feizi*, Chapter "Five Vermin"
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "守株待兔" came to describe those who avoid steady work, hoping for lucky gains or success, or those who rigidly cling to narrow experience and fail to adapt to changing circumstances.