33．马【馬】部 horse
指call鹿stag为as马horse
In the Qin Dynasty秦朝, a Prime Minister named Zhao Gao赵高 was very ambitious. Unsatisfied with his position as a Prime Minister he began plotting to usurp the throne. He was not sure, however, how many people in the court would support him. So, he devised a way to test the court officials to find out who were his supporters and who were his opponents.
One day, when all court officials were assembled to discuss court affairs, Zhao brought a stag in and said to the emperor, “I present this excellent horse to your majesty.” The emperor was confused because he could see it was a stag. But Zhao insisted that it was a horse and asked the court officials to express their opinion on whether it was a stag or a horse. Some of the officials were afraid of being persecuted by Zhou if they told truth, so they agreed with Zhao and called the stag a horse.
指鹿为马is used to describe willful misrepresentation, such as saying that black is white.
【拼音】zhǐ lù wéi mǎ
【解释】指着鹿，说是马。比喻故意颠倒黑白，混淆是非。“混淆是非”和“指鹿为马”都有“违背事实；不分是非”的意思；有时可通用。但“指鹿为马”完全是故意的；并时有咄咄逼人之势；”混淆是非“可以是故意的；也可以是无意的。
【出处】《史记·秦始皇本纪》：“赵高欲为乱，恐群臣不听，乃先设验，持鹿献于二世，曰：‘马也。’二世笑曰：‘丞相误邪？谓鹿为马。’问左右，左右或默，或言马以阿顺赵高。”
