Yu the Great paid little attention to the luxury of his palace, putting all his energy into regulating the waterways. Busy during those years, he passed the palace gate three times but never even entered, and as a result the owled turtle was moved by his diligence and told him the secret of how to stop the floods.
卑宮室，盡力乎溝洫的大禹，治水三過其門而不入，因此得到鴞龜傳授退除水患的秘訣。