What does the Chinese idiom 亡羊补牢 mean?

亡羊补牢 (wáng yáng bǔ láo) means “mend the pen after losing a sheep.” 亡 is an old word for “lose” and 牢 is a pen for animals. It means fixing a problem after a loss so you don’t lose more, and it carries the hopeful sense that it is not too late. That makes it the opposite of the English “closing the barn door after the horse has bolted,” which means it is too late.

What is the moral of Mending the Pen After Losing a Sheep?

Mistakes are not the end of the world, as long as you fix them in time. The shepherd lost a second sheep because he put off mending the hole; once he fixed it, the wolf could not get in again.

Where does 亡羊补牢 come from? Is the shepherd story the original?

The saying comes from the Zhanguo Ce (Strategies of the Warring States), “Strategies of Chu, Part Four.” There the minister Zhuang Xin quotes it to King Xiang of Chu, who had ignored his advice until Qin invaded. There is no shepherd in the original; the shepherd story was made up later to explain the saying, and ours is our own new version.

What comes after 亡羊补牢?

Today people usually say 亡羊补牢，犹未为晚 (wáng yáng bǔ láo, yóu wèi wéi wǎn), “mending the pen after losing a sheep is still not too late.” The original line in the Zhanguo Ce is 亡羊而补牢，未为迟也, and it follows another saying: 见兔而顾犬，未为晚也, “to call the hound after you see the hare is not too late.”

Mending the Pen After Losing a Sheep (亡羊补牢)

Ages 4–8
English audio 2 min
Mandarin audio 3 min

Mending the Pen After Losing a Sheep is a classic story from Chinese Idiom Stories for Kids, for children aged 4–8. This page has the English story with a native English narration (about 2 min), plus the Chinese version with Mandarin narration (about 3 min). Free to read and listen, no sign-up.

A shepherd loses a sheep through a hole in his pen but won’t fix it. When a second sheep goes, he mends it at once. The idiom story 亡羊补牢 in English and Chinese, with narration.

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Read Mending the Pen After Losing a Sheep

Long ago, a shepherd lived at the foot of a hill. He had ten white sheep. Every evening he put them in their pen and counted them. "One, two, three... ten. Good night, sheep!"

One morning he counted again. "One, two, three... nine." One sheep was missing! He walked around the pen. In one corner, there was a big hole in the fence. Near the hole, he saw some footprints.

His old neighbor came by. "Those are wolf footprints," he said. "The wolf came in through that hole last night. You should fix it today."

The shepherd shook his head. "The sheep is already gone. Why fix the hole now?" And he took the other sheep up the hill.

The next morning he counted again. "One, two, three... eight." Another sheep was gone! There were new footprints by the hole.

The shepherd felt very sorry. "My neighbor was right," he thought. "If I fix the hole now, it is not too late."

He got some new boards, a hammer and some nails. Bang, bang, bang! He fixed the hole. Then he checked the whole fence, board by board.

After that, the wolf came back, but it could not get in. Every evening the shepherd counted, "One, two, three... eight. Good night, sheep!" Then he went to sleep, happy and calm.

The Chinese version: 亡羊补牢

从前，山坡下住着一个牧羊人。他养了十只羊，白白的，胖胖的，像一朵朵软软的云。每天傍晚，他把羊赶回家，关进木板围成的羊圈里，一只一只地数：“一只、两只、三只……十只，一只也不少！”数完了，他才放心地去睡觉。

有一天早上，他打开羊圈，又数了起来：“一只、两只、三只……九只。”咦，怎么少了一只？他绕着羊圈走了一圈，发现角落里有两块木板松了，露出一个大洞。洞口的泥地上，还有几个尖尖的脚印。

隔壁的老爷爷走过来，弯腰看了看，说：“这是狼的脚印。它夜里从这个洞钻进来，把你的羊带走了。赶紧把洞补上吧！”

牧羊人摆摆手：“羊都已经丢了，现在补洞还有什么用呢？”他打了个哈欠，赶着剩下的九只羊上山吃草去了。那天晚上，他看也没看那个洞，就回屋睡觉了。

第二天早上，他又打开羊圈：“一只、两只、三只……八只。”又少了一只！洞口旁边，又多了一串新的脚印。

牧羊人站在那儿，半天没说话。他想：“老爷爷说得对。我昨天要是把洞补上，就不会再丢一只羊了。现在赶快补，还来得及！”

他马上找来新木板、钉子和小锤子，叮叮当当，叮叮当当，把那个洞补好了，又用手使劲推了推，一点儿也不晃。他还绕着羊圈走了一圈，把每一块松动的木板都钉牢了。

后来，狼又来过几回，可是怎么也找不到地方钻进去。每天傍晚，牧羊人还是一只一只地数：“一只、两只、三只……八只，一只也不少！”然后，他安安心心地睡着了。

Mending the Pen After Losing a Sheep (亡羊补牢): the moral of the story

Mistakes happen. What matters is fixing them quickly. Put a problem right as soon as you find it and you lose less; keep putting it off and you lose more.

What does Mending the Pen After Losing a Sheep mean?: Literally “lose the sheep, mend the pen”: 亡 (wáng) here means “to lose,” 羊 (yáng) sheep, 补 (bǔ) mend, 牢 (láo) a pen for animals. It means acting to fix a problem after something has gone wrong, so it doesn’t happen again, with the sense that it is not too late. People often use the longer form 亡羊补牢，犹未为晚 (wáng yáng bǔ láo, yóu wèi wéi wǎn), “it is still not too late.”
Example sentence: I got several characters wrong on my dictation, so I practiced each one five times. 亡羊补牢 (wáng yáng bǔ láo): better to fix it now than get them wrong again next time.

The original Chinese text of Mending the Pen After Losing a Sheep

臣闻鄙语曰：“见兔而顾犬，未为晚也；亡羊而补牢，未为迟也。”

— 《战国策·楚策四》

Our translation

Your servant has heard a common saying: “To look round for the hound once you have seen the hare is not too late; to mend the pen once you have lost a sheep is not too late either.”

— Zhanguo Ce (Strategies of the Warring States), “Strategies of Chu, Part Four”; compiled by Liu Xiang, 1st century BC

Chinese words in Mending the Pen After Losing a Sheep

Play the Chinese narration and listen for these words. The pinyin shows the tones.

亡羊补牢wáng yáng bǔ láo
mend the pen after losing a sheep
牧羊人mù yáng rén
shepherd
羊圈yáng juàn
sheep pen
狼láng
wolf
脚印jiǎo yìn
footprint
木板mù bǎn
wooden board
钉子dīng zi
nail
来得及lái de jí
there's still time

Bedtime storytelling tips

Each time the shepherd counts his sheep, count along on your fingers, “One, two, three…”, and when one is missing, stop and say, “Hmm?”
When the shepherd says “Why fix the hole now?”, pause and ask your child, “Do you think he’s right?” before reading on.
Read the last counting slowly and softly, as if you were settling the sheep down to sleep; it helps settle your child too. Families learning Chinese can count in Mandarin: 一只、两只、三只 (yì zhī, liǎng zhī, sān zhī).

Things to talk about afterwards

How did the first sheep go missing? What did the old neighbor tell the shepherd to do?
Why didn’t the shepherd want to fix the hole at first? What changed his mind?
Have you ever made a mistake and then fixed it quickly?

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Mending the Pen After Losing a Sheep (亡羊补牢): common questions

What does the Chinese idiom 亡羊补牢 mean?: 亡羊补牢 (wáng yáng bǔ láo) means “mend the pen after losing a sheep.” 亡 is an old word for “lose” and 牢 is a pen for animals. It means fixing a problem after a loss so you don’t lose more, and it carries the hopeful sense that it is not too late. That makes it the opposite of the English “closing the barn door after the horse has bolted,” which means it is too late.
What is the moral of Mending the Pen After Losing a Sheep?: Mistakes are not the end of the world, as long as you fix them in time. The shepherd lost a second sheep because he put off mending the hole; once he fixed it, the wolf could not get in again.
Where does 亡羊补牢 come from? Is the shepherd story the original?: The saying comes from the Zhanguo Ce (Strategies of the Warring States), “Strategies of Chu, Part Four.” There the minister Zhuang Xin quotes it to King Xiang of Chu, who had ignored his advice until Qin invaded. There is no shepherd in the original; the shepherd story was made up later to explain the saying, and ours is our own new version.
What comes after 亡羊补牢?: Today people usually say 亡羊补牢，犹未为晚 (wáng yáng bǔ láo, yóu wèi wéi wǎn), “mending the pen after losing a sheep is still not too late.” The original line in the Zhanguo Ce is 亡羊而补牢，未为迟也, and it follows another saying: 见兔而顾犬，未为晚也, “to call the hound after you see the hare is not too late.”

Source and how we retold it

The idiom comes from the Zhanguo Ce (Strategies of the Warring States), “Strategies of Chu, Part Four,” compiled by Liu Xiang in the Western Han dynasty; the original is in the public domain. The original is not a story about a shepherd. King Xiang of Chu ignored the advice of his minister Zhuang Xin; later the state of Qin took large parts of Chu, the king fled to Chengyang, and only then did he send for Zhuang Xin to ask what to do. Zhuang Xin answered with a common saying: “To call the hound after you see the hare is not too late; to mend the pen after you lose a sheep is not too late either.” The familiar shepherd story was made up later to explain the saying. Ours is a new story we wrote along the same lines; it only says the wolf took the sheep away and leaves out any harm to them.

The narration on this page is AI-generated: the English is read by 英伦绅士 and the Chinese by 温柔妈妈. The audio files are labeled as AI-generated.

If you liked Mending the Pen After Losing a Sheep (亡羊补牢), there are more stories in Chinese Idiom Stories for Kids. You can also read this one to your child in your own voice.