Three in the morning and four in the evening -- Play fast and loose

Once upon a time, there lived an old man in the State of Song who kept monkeys. He was very fond of monkeys and kept a large number of them. He understood the monkeys very well and they could also understand him. Everyday, the old man treated the monkeys by feeding them acorns.

But soon the old man's supply of acorns began to run out. He decided to reduce the amount of food for the monkeys. But he was afraid that the monkeys would not submit to him. Before doing that he played a trick on them: "From now on, if I give you four chestnuts in the morning and three in the evening, would that be enough?" he asked the monkeys. All the monkeys rose up in fury. After a while, he said, "If I give you three chestnuts in the morning and four in the evening, would that be enough?" All the monkeys lay on the floor, very happy with this proposal.

From this fable comes the idiom . Three in the morning and four in the evening, or four in the morning and three in the evening, the total amount in the day are the same. At first, the phrase was used to illustrate the idea that the foolish are easily taken in. It is now used to satirize those who doesn't know his own mind and vacillates and changes.