孔府內宅之檇壁圖

孔府是中國封建社會官衙與內宅合一的典型建筑，界限在內宅門。內宅門的一切設置，充分表現了中國高門大第家規家教的森嚴。

內宅門嚴禁任何外人入內。清朝皇帝特賜虎尾棍、燕翅、金頭玉棍三對兵器，由守門人把持，有擅入者，“打死勿論”。內外聯系由特設的兩種傳事差役擔任:一種叫差弁，一種叫內傳事。都有十幾人，輪番在門旁耳房內值班，隨時向外和向內傳話。

孔府的內宅自然也是其私密的宅居之所。

在孔府的內宅門內壁上，有這樣一幅彩畫:彩云中間一怪獸，狀似麒麟而非麒麟。該獸頭上長冠，獅尾，龍頭，周身掛鱗，披毛，張口昂首，卷舌露齒。

這是傳說中天界里的獸，名叫“”，生性貪婪，據說能夠吞食金銀財寶。畫中，在它的周圍到處都是寶貝，八仙寶物俱全，都被它占據。可“”并不滿足，它虎視眈眈，張開血盆大口，想把太陽吞而食之，結果在奔向太陽時被太陽燒死。也有一說:說它想把大海里的水都吞進肚子里，結果被大海淹死了。

當年，衍圣公(公元1055年宋朝仁宗皇帝賜給孔子第46代孫孔宗愿的封號，由孔家子孫相繼，整整承襲了32代，歷時880年)每次出門時，都會在壁圖前停一停，在聽到有人高喊一聲“過貪心”后，才會邁步走出內宅門。

衍圣公把壁圖建到這個進出宅院的必經之路上，就是為了自己及其子孫后代進出家門時，一眼就看到“”的形象，把它當做一面鏡子，以告誡子孫后代要廉潔奉公，切不可像“”那樣貪得無厭。由此可見，孔府家訓甚嚴。

On the gate wall of the inner residence of the Confucian Family Mansion in Qufu， there is a colorful painting in which among the colorful clouds there is a monster looking like a kylin. The monster has a coronet on its head， a lion’s tail and a dragon’s head. Its body is covered with scales and fur.

This is a legendry monster living in the heavens called a “Tan”， literally meaning “greedy”. Legend has it that it can devour gold， silver and jewels. In the painting， it is surrounded by jewels. However， it is not satisfied. Opening its mouth wide， it wants to devour the sun. Finally， when it marches towards the sun， it is burned to death. Another story tells that it wishes to devour all of the water in the sea and finally is drowned in the sea.

Whenever Duke Yansheng (an imperial title conferred upon Kong Zongyuan， the 46th lineal descendant of Confucius in 1055 by Emperor Renzong during the Song Dynasty， which was inherited by later lineal descendants of Confucius for 32 generation until 880) went out of the mansion， he would pause in front of picture， and only after hearing someone shout “over greedy，” would he go out of the gate.

The reason why Duke Yansheng constructed the wall of the Tan picture at the entrance to the inner residence was to enable himself and his descendants to see the image of the Tan， through which he wished to warn his descendants not to be as greedy as the Tan.