In ancient times, there was an old man in front of whose house were two high mountains, making it very inconvenient for him to come and go. He gathered his family and started to level the mountains. His neighbour scoffed, “You are foolish. You are too old and weak to level a small hill, let alone two big mountains. “ But the old man said, “I have sons, and my sons have sons. I will have endless progeny, but the mountains won’t grow any higher. “ The spirit of the “Foolish Old Man” moved Heaven, and it sent two immortals to move the mountains away.

The idiom is now used to describe what can be achieved when someone has the will to succeed at something.