My Favorite Fable (焉知非福)

A farmer had only one horse. One day, his horse ran away. 

His neighbors said, “I'm so sorry. This is such bad news. You must be so upset.” The man just said, “We'll see.” 

A few days later, his horse came back with twenty wild horses following. The man and his son corralled all 21 horses. 

His neighbors said, “Congratulations! This is such good news. You must be so happy!” The man just said, “We'll see.” 

One of the wild horses kicked the man's only son, breaking both his legs. His neighbors said, “I'm so sorry. This is such bad news. You must be so upset.” The man just said, “We'll see.” 

The country went to war, and every able-bodied young man was drafted to fight. The war was terrible and killed every young man, but the farmer's son was spared, since his broken legs prevented him from being drafted. 

His neighbors said, “Congratulations! This is such good news. You must be so happy!” The man just said, “We'll see.” 

-- 

Hi Nobody - 

Actually - now that you got my form letter, I have a special Nobody-only offer for you. 

First - I want you to know that you ALMOST got the job as writer. Your essays were really really great. It was between you and one other person, and I spent a whole hour on the decision, re-reading hers and yours again and again. 

So I have a unique offer for you: 

I would like to hire you as a part-time Wood Egg researcher to work with the writer. 

Her name is Jacinta Read. 

I told her about you already, how great your work is, how you did it anyway even though you weren't hired in June, and how I'm really impressed with you. 

She said yes, she'd love to work with you. 

So here's how I think it could work: 

What do you think? 

- Derek Sivers 

--- 

So, that was that. I became a Wood Egg Researcher. We’ll see.


Read the next chapter: A Writer - This is Who I Want to Be 

Or table of contents: Brick by Brick