During the Spring and Autumn period, a man named Zizhang from the State of Chen heard that Duke Ai of the State of Lu was fond of befriending scholars, so he traveled a great distance to Lu, hoping to secure a good position under Duke Ai's patronage.
After arriving in Qufu, the capital of Lu, Zizhang waited seven days without an audience with Duke Ai of Lu. So he crafted a story and had it relayed to the duke.
The gist of the story is this:
During the Warring States period, a nobleman named Shen Zhuliang, known as Lord Ye, lived in the state of Chu. He was obsessed with dragons. His home was filled with dragon carvings and paintings—from the outer halls to the inner chambers, every surface bore dragon motifs. Even his cups, plates, trays, clothes, bedding, and cushions were decorated with dragon patterns. Lord Ye lived surrounded by dragons, admiring their forms all day long, and his passion became famous far and wide.
When the real dragon learned of this, it was deeply moved and decided to personally thank Lord Ye. Flying to his home, the dragon thrust its head through the window and draped its tail across the hall.
Lord Ye, who surrounded himself with dragon carvings day and night, had never actually seen a real dragon. When a true dragon descended from the heavens, he turned pale with terror, his soul fleeing in panic, and he fled without looking back.
The story ends, and Zizhang commented, "So, Lord Ye only loved painted and carved fake dragons, not the real, genuine ones!"
Clearly, Zizhang used this story to mock Duke Ai of Lu for merely pretending to value scholars on the surface, while in reality having no intention of truly employing them.
This is a fable passed down from the Warring States period. Later, people coined the idiom "Lord Ye's Love of Dragons" to describe those who pretend to like something but are actually afraid of it when they truly encounter it.
Source: *New Prefaces*, "Miscellaneous Matters"
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "叶公好龙" came to describe those who pretend to like something but are actually afraid of it when they truly encounter it.