(1) During the Warring States period, when the state of Zhao was going to attack the state of Yan, Yan sent its strategist Su Dai to persuade the king of Zhao. Su Dai then told the king of Zhao this story: a big clam was sunbathing on a river bank, it had just opened its shell when a water bird, a snipe, stretched out its long beak to peck at the clam's flesh, and the clam hastened to tighten its shell. It caught the snipe's long beak in its jaws.

(2) The snipe said angrily, "If it doesn't rain today and tomorrow, I'll see how you're going to survive." The clam also did not budge and said, "If I don't let you go today, and if I don't let you go tomorrow, I don't see how you can live either!" Just as the snipe and the clam were getting into trouble, they were discovered by a fisherman, who caught them without any difficulty.

(3) Su Dai told the king of Zhao that Zhao's attack on Yan would be like a snipe and a clam, and neither of the two countries would gain any advantage, while the mighty Qin would get a bargain like a fisherman. Hearing this, King Hui came to a realization and said, "That makes sense!" Then he stopped his attack on Yan.

2. This story was later summarized into the idiom of "Snipe and Clam Struggle, Fisherman Gets Benefit", which is used to describe the situation where the two parties who are struggling for something do not give in to each other, and as a result, both of them lose, so that the third party gets the benefit.