The Chinese Farmer

A farmer lived alone with his son after his wife died. Season after season, the two of them worked the fields with the only horse they had left.

One evening the son forgot to latch the stable, and by morning the horse was gone.

Word got around, and the neighbors showed up at the door. “This is a disaster,” they said. “How will you work the farm without a horse? And all because the boy left the gate open.”

“Maybe yes, maybe no,” said the farmer.

A day later the horse wandered home, and six wild horses came in behind it. This time the son made sure the gate was shut.

The neighbors came back, all smiles. “Seven horses! Keep a few for the fields and sell the rest. You’re a rich man.”

“Maybe yes, maybe no.”

The next day the son tried to break in one of the wild horses. It bucked him onto the rocks, and his leg snapped.

“How awful,” said the neighbors. “Now you’ve lost your only help, right when you need it most.”

“Maybe yes, maybe no.”

Then a general of the emperor’s army rode into the village to take every young man to the front lines, against an enemy no one expected to survive. He took one look at the son’s broken leg and left him behind.

“What a blessing,” said the neighbors. “Your boy will live.”

The farmer said, “Maybe yes, maybe no.”