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Drawing a Cake to Alleviate Hunger
In the period of Three Kingdoms
There was a man in the kingdom of Wei called Lu Yu
At the age of ten he was already an orphan
His two older brother died one after the other
In chaotic times of war and turmoil
He did his best to care of his sister in law and nephew
Life was very hard
His manners and knowledge have earned him people's admiration
Later Lu Yu became an official
He was a just and upright official
In three years of service he gave much good advice
thus Emperor Ming of Wei greatly trusted him
In those day officials were chosen based on other people's recommendations
and people only recommended well-known figures
These famous people mostly practiced idle discussions rather than actual service
and kept praising each other
Therefore Emperor Ming of Wei was very displeased
When it was time to appoint an archivist the empreror ordered:
This time the choice will be made according to Lu Yu's recommendation
The people making the choice should not only consider one's fame
Fame is just like a cake drawn on the ground
You can not eat it
This is how the idiom 'draw a cake to alleviate hunger' came to be
Now it is used as a metaphor for comforting oneself with fantasies
or to say undeserved reputation is of no use
There's another idiom with a similar meaning: quench one's thirst by thinking of plums