春秋時齊國的齊宣王，
喜歡聽幾百人一齊吹竽。
有一個南郭先生不會吹竽，
便混在眾人中假裝吹竽。
就這樣他居然混了不少年，
得到的是和大家一樣的待遇。
齊宣王死後兒子湣（mǐn）王即位，
這湣王和老子一樣喜歡聽吹竽。
可是他討厭大家一起湊熱鬧，
便命令竽手們一個個單獨吹奏。
南郭見自己難以再“充數”，
偷偷地溜回了宿舍卷行李。
這故事用來諷刺那混飯吃的人，
沒本領總有一天難以混下去。
A Poor Yu Player in an Ensemble
During the Spring and Autumn Period（770—476B。C。）King Xuan of Qi State loved to listen to the musical instrument yu，and he loved to listen to an ensemble of several hundreds。
A man named Mr Nanguo who couldn't play yu at all，joined the band and pretended to be playing。He thus kept playing for many many years，getting the same amount of salary just as the others。
Then King Xuan of Qi died and his son Min became king。King Min was just like his late father and loved to listen to the yu。But he didn't appreciate the way so many people were crowded in front of him playing，so he ordered them to play it one by one。Mr Nanguo now found it hard to get along，and covertly went to his dorm，got his baggage and sneaked away。
This story is a satire on those who want to make a living by deceitful means，for they will soon find themselves in a fix。