There was once an old farmer who had worked his crops for many years. One day his only horse broke through the fence and ran away.
His neighbors came by that evening. "Such bad luck," they said.
"Maybe," the farmer said.
The next morning the horse came back. And it brought three wild horses with it.
"How wonderful," the neighbors said. "What good luck!"
"Maybe," said the farmer.
The following day his son tried to ride one of the wild horses. He was thrown off and broke his leg.
The neighbors came again. "Your only son, hurt. Such bad luck."
"Maybe," said the farmer.
A week later, soldiers marched into the village to take every young man away to war. When they saw the son's broken leg, they passed him by.
The neighbors gathered around the farmer. "Your son is spared! What good fortune!"
The farmer only said: "Maybe."
What the Chinese farmer story teaches
This parable comes from Taoist tradition and has been retold for centuries, most famously by the writer Alan Watts. It lasts because it describes something everyone has lived: the thing that ruined your year turned out to be the door to the next good thing. Or the reverse.
- You rarely know the whole story while you are inside it.
- Calling something a disaster too early adds suffering to pain.
- "Maybe" is not giving up. It is staying open long enough to see what happens next.
The moral in one sentence
Don't rush to call what happens to you good or bad; life is longer than one chapter.
Questions to sit with
- What "bad luck" from your past led somewhere good?
- What are you calling a disaster right now that might only be a turn?
More on this idea: mindfulness quotes and Stoic quotes on what you can control.
