The allusion is from The Book of Mencius · Gongsun Chou ：
故事出自《孟子·公孙丑上》，大意是说:
A man in the State of Song was worried that the shoots of his crops might not grow,
宋国有个人看到地里的庄稼长得很慢，心里着急，
so he pulled every single one of them a bit upward.
便一棵苗一棵苗地逐棵拔高了一点。
After that, he returned home very tired ,saying to his family,
回到家后，这人就告诉家里人说:
“I’m exhausted today because I have given the shoots some help for them to grow. "
“今天累死我了！我帮着地里的禾苗长高了。”
Hearing this, his son went to the fields and looked,
他的儿子跑到地里一看，
only to find the shoots had all withered away.
庄稼已经枯萎了。
Now it is used figuratively to mean one who goes against the laws of development of objects,
后人就用“揠苗助长”一词来比喻不遵循事物的发展规律，
to do harm to a thing by being overanxious for quick results. Haste makes waste.
急于求成，急躁冒进，结果反而坏事。
。