Many people have seen toads and swans. Some have seen it with their own eyes, and some have only seen it in movies.
Toad wants to eat swan meat. Toad and swan were originally unrelated, and this two-part allegorical saying forcibly tied them together. People often take it as an analogy. My darling girl, a poor boy who pursues a big family, compares the former to a toad and the latter to a swan. Frankly speaking, which man didn't have such a dream when he was young? In other words, all toads must want to eat swan meat.
Let's put aside metaphors and talk about things.
Toads belong to frogs.
There are many kinds of frogs. Frogs, also known as frogs, are very common to us. Although the government has repeatedly banned catching them, they are not uncommon at the dinner table. I grew up in the country. Frogs are natural enemies of insects in rice fields. I never eat frogs, let alone catch them. At present, there are many diseases and insect pests in rice. Is it related to catching frogs?
Stone pheasant also belongs to frog, whose scientific name is Echinothorax frog, also called Shi Wa. Its cooking is delicious and nutritious. Recently, I wrote an article about Fuliang cuisine, which is about stone chicken. Among the "Three Stones" in Lushan Mountain, pheasants are among the best.
I have met toads, and I always think that any frog that looks extremely ugly is a toad. This spring, I was digging vegetable fields in a corner of the yard. As soon as I dropped my hoe, I was bounced several times. I saw a toad lying under the soil, and I suddenly felt sick. But recently my nephew told me that toads can only see them a week before they are frightened. They come out of the mountains, jump into the water to lay eggs, and then go back to the mountains to hide. After hearing what he said, I wondered, isn't this the toad dug out of my vegetable field?
I have been to several mountain villages, and I have heard more than once that toads are better than pheasants. What Shanmin said should be true. But no matter how others induce me, I still dare not eat toad. On the one hand, toads are terrible; on the other hand, toads have poisonous glands. As for whether toads belong to protected animals, I have no textual research.
Although I have never eaten toad, I have eaten goose and the second generation of geese when I was working in Jiujiang more than ten years ago. The store said that swans actually belong to the wild goose family, and there is no essential difference between them. I thought the geese flying in the sky must be delicious, but I was disappointed. The meat is thick and not delicious. Swan, or graceful, or flying in the sky, even the famous ballet is named after Swan Lake, how beautiful; But if we want to compare two-part allegorical sayings, swans are not as good as pheasants or even toads.
From this point of view, the world and nature must not judge people by their appearances, let alone speculate.
When I finished writing, it suddenly occurred to me that toads are not as small as swans. "Toad wants to eat swan meat", even if it is sent to his mouth, toad can't eat it.
This is a fabrication by literati.