What is this "poison" in the idiom "Drink poison to quench thirst"? Some people say that "zhenniao" is a kind of bird, a very special bird. The feathers or feces of this bird are highly toxic. If you use the feathers of this bird to make wine, the wine will be highly toxic. But in this idiom, "zhenniao" definitely does not refer to this bird called zhenniao, but refers to the wine containing zhenniao.
This kind of bird is actually a legendary bird. Whether extinct or hypothetical, the poison of this bird, especially the poison mixed in wine, is considered to be the first poison in the world. Use "zhenniao" to refer to poisonous wine and emphasize its extremely fatal harm. Poisonous wine soaked in the feathers of the silver carp is colorless and tasteless, so it is probably not so obvious in judgment, or it is not so easy to identify the silver carp, so drinking the silver carp to quench your thirst is usually drinking the silver carp without knowing it.
Drinking poison to quench thirst means that people are eager for quick success and instant benefit, solve their immediate difficulties in the wrong way, regardless of the consequences, and finally have no good ending. In this idiom, "zhenniao" is the legendary poisonous bird. The wine soaked in its feathers can kill people. "Shan Hai Jing" said: "Owl is as big as an eagle, purple-green, with a long neck and a red beak. It eats the head of an adder. Its male name is auspicious and its female name is harmony. " The ancients thought that the bird "zhenniao" liked to eat the head of a poisonous snake, so it became very poisonous itself. There are records about zhenniao in Zuozhuan, Shiji and Hanshu.