Zhang Guaiya was a magistrate of Chongyang county. One day, he caught a clerk walking out of the treasury with a single coin tucked behind his ear. He ordered the man beaten.
The clerk was outraged: "It's just one coin! You'd beat me for one coin?" He sneered: "You can beat me, but you can't execute me!"
Zhang Guaiya picked up his brush and wrote the verdict: "One coin a day becomes a thousand coins in a thousand days. A rope saws through wood. Water drips wear through stone." He drew his sword and executed the clerk on the spot.
张乖崖为崇阳令，一吏自库中出，视其鬓傍下有一钱，诘之，乃库中钱也。乖崖命杖之，吏勃然曰：「一钱何足道，乃杖我耶？尔能杖我，不能斩我也！」乖崖援笔判曰：「一日一钱，千日千钱，绳锯木断，水滴石穿。」自仗剑下阶斩其首。
张乖崖为崇阳令，一吏自库中出，视其鬓傍下有一钱，诘之，乃库中钱也。乖崖命杖之，吏勃然曰：「一钱何足道，乃杖我耶？尔能杖我，不能斩我也！」乖崖援笔判曰：「一日一钱，千日千钱，绳锯木断，水滴石穿。」自仗剑下阶斩其首。
Reflection & Analysis · 寓意解读
Core Wisdom
Small corruptions, repeated over time, destroy everything. The rope that seems harmless today will cut through the tree tomorrow. The drip that seems insignificant today will pierce the stone next year.
The phrase "水滴石穿" (water drips wear through stone) is usually used positively — to encourage persistence. But its original context is a warning about corruption. Zhang Guaiya's extreme punishment was not about one coin; it was about the principle that small crimes, unchecked, become large ones.
The two metaphors are powerful: a rope, soft and flexible, can saw through a tree if moved back and forth long enough. Water, soft and yielding, can pierce stone if it falls on the same spot long enough. The lesson applies equally to virtue and vice: persistent effort in any direction, over time, produces results that seem impossible in the moment.