成语趣谈（十九）：千里送鹅毛 About Chinese Idioms (19): A Goose Feather Sent from a Thousand Li Away—A Small Gift That Conveys Great Affection

During the Zhenguan period of the Tang Dynasty, the Khaganate was a vassal state of the Tang Dynasty. Once, in order to show its friendship towards the Tang Dynasty, the Khaganate sent an envoy named Mianbogao to visit the Tang Dynasty emperor with a batch of rare and exotic treasures. Among these tribute items, the most precious one is a rare and precious bird - the white swan.

What worries Mianbogao the most is also this white swan. If something were to happen, how can he explain it to the emperor? So, along the way, he personally fed water and didn't dare to neglect for a moment.

One day, Mianbogao arrived at the Mianyang River and saw the white swan stretching its neck, opening its mouth, and struggling to breathe. Mian Bogao couldn't bear it and opened the cage, taking the white swan to the water's edge for it to drink to its heart's content. Unexpectedly, the white swan drank enough water, flapped its wings, and flew up into the sky with a "flapping" sound. Mianbogao pounced forward and only pulled out a few feathers, but failed to catch the white swan. He watched it fly away without a trace. Mianbogao held a few snow-white goose feathers and stared blankly. After thinking for a moment, Mianbogao decided to continue eastward. He took out a piece of pure white silk, wrapped the goose feathers with great care, and wrote a poem on the silk: “Offering a swan as tribute to the Tang Dynasty, and the mountain road is even farther away. In the Mianyang River I lost the treasure, and the love of the Khitans is difficult to throw away. To offer to the Tang Emperor, Mianbogao apologizes. Sending goose feathers thousands of miles away: The gift is light, but the affection is heavy.”

This is the original history of “sending goose feathers thousands of miles, with light gifts and heavy emotions', now used to express the meaning: although the gift I gave is not valuable, my affection for you is very deep.”

唐朝贞观年间，回纥国是大唐的藩国，一次，回纥国为了表示对大唐的友好，便派使者缅伯高带了一批珍奇异宝去拜见唐王。在这批贡物中，最珍贵的要数一只罕见的珍禽――白天鹅。

缅伯高最担心的也是这只白天鹅，万一有个三长两短，可怎么向国王交待呢？所以，一路上，他亲自喂水喂食，一刻也不敢怠慢。

这天，缅伯高来到沔阳河边，只见白天鹅伸长脖子，张着嘴巴，吃力地喘息着，缅伯高心中不忍，便打开笼子，把白天鹅带到水边让它喝了个痛快。谁知白天鹅喝足了水，一扇翅膀，"扑喇喇"一声飞上了天。缅伯高向前一扑，只拔下几根羽毛，却没能抓住白天鹅，眼睁睁看着它飞得无影无踪，缅伯高捧着几根雪白的鹅毛，直愣愣地发呆，思前想后，缅伯高决定继续东行，他拿出一块洁白的绸子，小心翼翼地把鹅毛包好，又在绸子上题了一首诗："天鹅贡唐朝，山重路更遥。沔阳河失宝，回纥情难抛。上奉唐天子，请罪缅伯高，礼轻情意重，千里送鹅毛！"

这便是“千里送鹅毛，礼轻情意重”的原史，现在用它来表示“虽然我送的礼物不贵重，但我对你的情意却很深厚”的意思。

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