Translation: King Xuan of Qi sent people to play the 竽, and he wanted 300 people to play together. Nan Guo asked to play the 竽 for King Xuan of Qi, and King Xuan of Qi was very happy. The government treated him the same as those hundreds of people. After King Xuan of Qi died, his son King Min of Qi (Min Wang) inherited the throne. King Min of Qi liked to listen to solo performances one by one, so Nan Guo ran away. The story of the fake 竽 tells us that fraud will not stand the test of time and will eventually be exposed. If a person is like Mr. Nan Guo who can’t play the 竽, has no real ability and only relies on pretending to fool people, he can fool others for a while when others don’t know the truth, but there will always be a day when the truth comes out.
译文：齐宣王派人吹竽，一定要三百人一起吹。南郭处士请求给齐宣王吹竽，齐宣王很高兴。官府给他的待遇和那几百人一样。齐宣王死后，他的儿子齐愍王(愍王)继承了王位。齐愍王喜欢听一个一个地独奏，南郭处士就逃跑了。滥竽充数的故事告诉人们：弄虚作假是经不住时间的考验，终究会露出马脚的，一个人如果像不会吹竽的南郭先生那样，没有真本事，只靠装样子糊弄人，在别人还不了解真相的时候，能够蒙混一阵子，但是总有真相大白的一天。
《古代寓言·滥竽充数》
齐宣王使人吹竽，必三百人。
南郭处士请为王吹竽。宣王说之，廪食以数百人。
宣王死，湣王立，好一一听之。
处士逃。
——《韩非子》
The Man Who Pretended he could Play Reed Pipes
When Prince Xuan of Qi called for reed pipe music, he would have three hundred men playing at the same time. Then a scholar named Nanguo asked for a place in the orchestra, and the prince, taking a fancy to him, gave him a salary large enough to feed several hundred men.
After Prince Xuan’s death, however, Prince Min came to the throne, and he liked solo performances.
There upon the scholar fled.
Han Fei Zi
