A Foolish Man Buys Shoes and No More Tricks for Mr Nan Guo
2 min readA Foolish Man Buys Shoes
In the past there lived a foolish man in a small kingdom called Zheng. One day he wanted to buy himself a pair of new shoes. He measured his feet with a ruler first and wrote down his size. But he was in such a hurry to set out that he left the measurement at home.
When he arrived at a shoe shop, he felt in the pocket only to find that it was not there. So hesaid apologetically,”I have left the measurement at home and don’t know the size. Ill fetch it in one minute.”With these words he hurried off as fast as his legs could carry him.
He ran back home, found it and then went to the shop again. But still it took him quite a while and the shop was already closed then. He had gone to all this trouble for nothing and did not get his shoes.
Then someone asked him,”Did you buy the shoes for yourself or someone else?””Formyself, of course.”he answered.”Then why don’t you try the shoes on by yourself?”
“No. Only the measurement is reliable, not my feet.I’d rather trust my measurement than trust my feet.”
No More Tricks, Mr. Nan Guo!
In the Warring states period of China, there was a state called Qi, the king of which was very fond of listening to the music played on the yu. He convened a band of 300 players from his state. Everyday the band was called in to play the yu for his Majesty at teatime. The king seemed to be very satisfied with the band and the harmonies performed.
As a matter of fact, one of the players, Nan Guo, knew nothing about the instrument. But he boasted about his skill of playing the yu:”Your Majesty,I’m a repute musician. Everybody is deeply touched when they listen to my music. Even the birds, the animals and the plants would dance to my music.I’d very much like to present my performance to you.”The king was very pleased to hear that and he recruited him as a member of the band. Nan Guo did manage to pass himself off and went on well with his tricks that each time he tried to seat himself behind and pretended to be playing the yu together with the others. Everything seemed good for him.
He had never been exposed.
Finally, his days were gone when the prince ascended the throne. As the latter would enjoy solo rather than harmony, the players were called each in to play alone before the king. This time, as we have guessed, Nan Guo was embarrassed to find there was no place for him any more. He could do nothing but wrap up his luggage.
