Holy Shi!

We had another Chinese lesson tonight and we are both brain dead. The lesson was about asking/getting/giving directions. Holy bizarre word order Batman! Plus the fact that that (na4), which (na3), and where (nar3) all sound similar. Or how about three very different meanings for zuo4, and throw in zuo3 and zou3 for good measure! Shi is another word that has only 4 pronounciations, but seemingly infinite meanings. The Mandarin character for each "shi" is unique, so reading is one thing, listening however.... Which brings me to the following story (thanks Amanda!): Shī Shì shí shī shǐ  Shíshì shīshì Shī Shì, shì shī, shì shí shí shī. Shì shíshí shì shì shì shī. Shí shí, shì shí shī shì shì. Shì shí, shì Shī Shì shì shì. Shì shì shì shí shī, shì shǐ shì, shǐ shì shí shī shìshì. Shì shí shì shí shī shī, shì shíshì. Shíshì shī, Shì shǐ shì shì shíshì. Shíshì shì, Shì shǐ shì shí shì shí shī. Shí shí, shǐ shí shì shí shī, shí shí shí shī shī. Shì shì shì shì.            The Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den

In a stone den was a poet called Shi, who was a lion addict, and had resolved to eat ten.

He often went to the market to look for lions.

At ten o'clock, ten lions had just arrived at the market.

At that time, Shi had just arrived at the market.

He saw those ten lions, and using his trusty arrows, caused the ten lions to die.

He brought the corpses of the ten lions to the stone den.

The stone den was damp. He asked his servants to wipe it.

After the stone den was wiped, he tried to eat those ten lions.

When he ate, he realized that these ten lions were in fact ten stone lion corpses.

Try to explain this matter. 

Holy shi, what have we gotten ourselves into?

Much clearer, no?