人間万事塞翁が馬 Ningen Banji Saiou ga Uma

人間万事塞翁が馬

Ningen Banji Saiou ga Uma

Human's Everything Saiou's Horse

Long, long ago there lived a poor old farmer in China named Saiou. He only had one son and one horse to work the farm, until one day his horse ran off.  His friends and neighbors came to console him. “That’s so bad about your horse” 

But Saiou calmly replied; "Bad? good? Who knows?"

A few days later when out working the field his horse returned with another younger, stronger horse following it. News of this spread quickly and once again friends and neighbors stopped by, this time exclaiming "How lucky you are!" 

But ol Saiou just smiled and said "Lucky? Unlucky? Who knows?"

Sure enough the very next day the new horse threw his son. He landed hard and broke his arm. Neighbors and friends came to see him. “We're so sorry to hear about your son"

 Saiou replied "Bad luck, Good luck, Who knows?"

A week later a warlord arrived on horseback. He was going through the area collecting all the young men to go fight and die in the Emperor's latest war. When Saiou called his son outside the warlord saw the boy's condition and moved on without him. 

And the neighbors came by and said...

And Saiou replied...