Does anyone know the name of this Chinese fable/folktale?

Question

Well, it goes something like this:

There was a man in China who loved dragons. He had paintings of dragons, he had dragons on his furniture, on his cloths etc.

But one day the dragon gods took notice and sent him a real dragon. When the man saw it, his whole body got stiff and he died. I think it was supposed to mean something like: Some people talk so much about something but when its time to confront the situation they don't "walk like they talked."

Anyone ever here this before?

Answer 1

Yep,I knew this, because I am Chinese~

What you said is right. The Chinese four-character idiom,"叶公好龙", means 'Professed love of what one really fears'.

Here's the story

In the Spring and Autumn Period (770－476BC), there lived in Chu a person named Shen Zhuliang, who addressed himself as "Lord Ye". It's said that this Lord Ye was very fond of dragons. The walls had dragons painted on them. The beams and pillars and the doors and the windows were all carved with them.

As a result, his love for dragons was spread out. When the real dragon in heaven heard of this Lord Ye, he was deeply moved. He decided to visit Lord Ye to thank him.

You might think Lord Ye would have been very happy to see a real dragon. But, in fact, at the sight of the creature, he was scared out of his wits and ran away as fast as he could.