Wong Tai Sin lot 71 of 100
Zhuangzi saves the carp
Below middling (中下). Grade as given on the named web transcriptions. We have not seen it on a temple printing, and we do not know that the temple prints one. The transcriptions do not all agree on this grade; see the differences below.
涸轍之中鮒困之
窮通自可卜當時
若能引得西江水
他日成龍也未知
In a dry rut, the little carp is in trouble.
Hardship or success can be read at that moment.
If someone could bring water from the western river,
no one knows, one day it might turn into a dragon.
What this lot says
A creature in distress needs only a little water, and the verse hints that rescue could make the difference between ruin and a rise.
It is graded below middling. It reads as a lot of need, in which timely help matters more than a large plan.
A lot is a prompt for reflection. It cannot promise a result, and it is no substitute for medical, legal or financial advice.
The story behind it
Zhuangzi saves the carp (莊周活鮒)
A traditional allusion named with this lot. We have not traced the story to a source we could read, so we do not retell it here.
Where this text comes from
This verse is a traditional temple text with no known author, here read from named web transcriptions. We compared the sites character by character and show every difference. We could not establish whether the sites are independent of one another, and we have not read a temple printing.
Fortune Sticks (fortunesticks.org) (the text shown above)
涸轍之中鮒困之 / 窮通自可卜當時 / 若能引得西江水 / 他日成龍也未知
Retrieved 2026-11-09
Luckeyes (算命眼, luckeyes.com)
涸轍之中鮒困之 / 窮通自可卜當時 / 若能引得西江水 / 他日成龍也未知
Retrieved 2026-11-09
Andy.hk (加賀風水)
涸轍之中鮒困之 / 窮通自可卜當時 / 若能引得西江水 / 他日成龍也未知
Retrieved 2026-11-09
Where the sources differ
- The grade: fortunesticks.org and andy.hk give 中下 (Below middling); luckeyes.com gives 中平 (Middling).
- The grade: the temple's website (Sik Sik Yuen, taonet.siksikyuen.org.hk) gives 中平 (Middling).
English translation and commentary are by Cast & Chart.