The story happens during the Warring States Period from the ninth Century B.C. to the fifth Century B.C. when every state fought to be a superpower. Many idioms originated from this period.

The state of Chu was one of the powers in the late Warring States Period. King Xuanwang noticed, that other smaller states seemed to fear Zhao Xixu, his general, who is famed for bravery more than the King himself. He asked other officials the reason for this.

An official named Jiang Yi told a story.

Once a hungry tiger happened to catch a fox and desired to make a nice meal out of it. The cunning fox immediately made a protest saying: "How Dare you take me as your food? You must know that I am sent by God to this forest to be the king of all the beasts herein. If you eat me you are against the will of God."

Seeing the tiger was half believing, the fox added: "If you don't believe what I say, you may follow me and see that every beast, without any exception, will fear me."

Finding this reasonable, the tiger agreed to the proposal. The fox went ahead, and the tiger followed closely. All the wild beasts in the forest ran for hide on seeing the tiger coming.

So the tiger was convinced that these beasts running for their lives were really afraid of the fox. Therefore, he didn't dare to eat the fox.

The King now realized that the real fear for the smaller states were himself instead of Zhao Xixu. Nonetheless, he gradually weakened Zhao Xixu's power over the army.

The story illustrates those who assume the power of others to show off.