In the first movement, "The Fox Profited by the Tiger's Might", the erhu and pipa represent the flaunting fox who borrows the tiger's fierceness by walking in the latter's company, while the cello and the percussion in low register support the image of the tiger. In the second movement, "Master Dong-guo and the Wolf", the cello and the erhu represent the softhearted scholar Dong-guo, who narrowly escaped being eaten by a wolf which he had helped to hide from a hunter. The papa sounds sometimes charming and sometimes aggressive, representing the cunning and the savage wolf. In the third movement, "The Snipe and the Clam", Chen Yi features the percussion's high register in the texture made by all other instruments, to imagine the grapple scene between the snipe and the clam.

I. The Fox Profited by the Tiger’s Might
II. Master Dong-guo and the Wolf
III. The Snipe and the Clam