Waiting for a winfall

[CHUNG Yoon-Ngan <chungyn@mozart.collective.com.au>]

     Waiting for a windfall

   Tang2 Shu Yu2, who was a Marquis (Hou2) in the court of King 
Cheng2 (1115BC to 1078BC), the second King of the Zhou Dynasty 
(1134BC to 250BC), was the administrator of the district called 
Han3 (present day Northern part of Henan province) which he later 
renamed it as the State of Han3.
   
   In 757BC State of Han3 was conquered and annexed by the State 
of Jin4 (present day Yi4 Cheng2 county in Shanxi province).

   In 453BC one of the descendants of Tang2 Shu Yu2 became a very 
powerful general in the Jin Court. His name was Han3 Qian4, who, 
together with two of the most powerful families in the State of 
Jin4, the Zhao4 and Wei4 families, split the State of Jin4 into 
three States. After the division the former State of Jin4 now
became the States of Han3, the State of Zhao4 and the State of 
Wei4. Thus General Han3 Qian4 revived the former State of Han3.
 
  In 375BC Han3 conquered and annexed the State of Zheng4 whose
capital was in present day Xin Zheng4. Han3 shifted its capital
to present day Xin Zheng4.  
 
  In 272BC Han3 Huan2 Hui4 became the ruler of Han3 who had a 
younger brother by the name of Han3 Fei (280BC to 234BC).
Although Han3 Fei was born a stutterer, he was not only a great
philosopher but also a author who had written many books and one 
of them was called Wu3 Chun3 (Five stupids) which was an idiomatic
essays book. 

Here is an essay extracted from Wu3 Chun3;

   Long time ago in the State of Song4 (present day Shang Qiu 
county in Henan province) there lived a farmer who was honest and
industrious but not very intelligent. He usually toiled all day 
long and was contented with his lot as a farmer.
  
   One day while he was working in the field, he saw a rabbit 
running across the field and it crashed against the exposed roots 
of a tree growing in the middle of his farm. The rabbit broke its 
neck and died. He threw down his tools and went to pick it up. 
That evening he had the rabbit meat for dinner.

   He thought that life would be much easier if he could just stay 
in the field and wait for rabbits to crash into the tree.
   
  The next day he stayed off the field and spent the day waiting 
for another rabbit to appear, but he saw no sign of rabbits.
 
   Day in and day out he did not attend to his field but waited 
and waited for rabbits to appear. Soon he was neglecting his farm
and the planting season was coming to an end. But there was no 
sign of any rabbit coming his way.

  The mishap in which the rabbit died was an isolated incident. 
It became obvious that his future would be bleak if he were to 
continue to neglect his field. He was trying to get something for 
free, without working for it, what a wishful thought of obtaining
something without an effort. 

A Chinese fable story "Shou3 Zhu Dai4 Tu4".

CHUNG Yoon-Ngan.   chungyn@mozart.collective.com.au