三
=
一
+
二
:
Mnemonic symbol: Cartesian coordinate system with three (三) axes. Socrates (s-) is performing in front of the anthill (-an1). He created an electrical flute by attaching a large capacitor (二) to the flute (一), so that he can get the attention of all the people. Moreover, he's balancing on a Cartesian coordinate system (三). Unfortunately, only three (三) people stop to watch the performance.
旬
=
勹
+
日
:
Mnemonic symbol: to fast for ten days.
Xu Xian (xu) has been fasting for ten days now (旬). He tries to get by just by absorbing the sun's (日) energy, but as he is sun bathing in the encampment's kitchen ((e)n2) and a fat elephant (勹) walks by he cannot help but bite the elephant's leg.
九
=
丿
+
一
+
乚
:
Joan of Arc is on cloud nine in the outhouse. With a shovel, she dug up a banana: when she peeled it she found a flute inside, with which she instantly fell in love.
食
=
亽
+
艮
:
Mnemonic symbol: a bag of instant noodles.
Sherlock Holmes (sh) went camping in the space station's bathroom (Ø2). As foodstuffs he brought chewing gum (艮) and instant noodles (食), but he forgot to bring his gas stove, so in front of his tipi (亽) He is eating chewing gums all day.