In the first movement, "The Fox Profited by the Tiger's Might", the erhu and the 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 pipa 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.

1. The Fox Profited by the Tiger's Might
2. Master Dong-guo and the Wolf
3. The Snipe and the Clam