Once upon a time, there was an old man who lived with his son on the borders of the country. They both very much enjoyed riding horses. One day, a servant reported to the old man, “One of our good horses has gone missing. It seems the horse ran across to the neighboring country.”
Old man’s friends came and comforted him. However, the old man said: “Well, this is not necessarily a bad thing. Who knows!”
Couple of months later, a strange thing happened. The missing horse came back, accompanied by a great steed from the neighboring country. When his friends congratulated him on this great news, the old man said: “Well, this might bring us bad luck.”
One day, his son was having fun riding on the fine [new] steed. Suddenly, he fell from the hose and broke his leg. His son was never able to walk again. Again, his friends came to comfort the old man. But the old man was not bothered and said: “This accident might bring us good luck in the future.”
A year later, all young men in the country were drafted to join a war. Most young men who fought died on the battlefield. Luckily, his son avoided entering the war because of his broken leg.

從前，一位老翁和他的兒子住在塞外的邊境上。他們都非常喜歡騎馬。有一天，他們家的仆人給老先生報(bào)告：”我們家的一匹駿馬走丟了，好像跑去鄰國了?！?br> 老翁的朋友聞?dòng)嵍歼^來安慰他。但老先生說：“呵呵，這也許不是壞事，誰知道呢?。?br> 幾個(gè)月之后，奇妙的事情發(fā)生了，那匹走失了的駿馬意外地跑回來了，并且從鄰國帶來了一匹新的駿馬。老翁的好友紛紛過來祝賀他。老翁說：“唉，這也許不是什么好事情呢！”
一天，老翁的兒子正在騎那匹新的駿馬，突然不小心從馬上掉了下來并摔斷了腿。他從今以后都不能正常走路了。老翁的朋友都為老翁感到傷心，但老翁卻說：“這個(gè)意外以后能為咱們帶來好運(yùn)也不一定?！?br> 一年后，全國上下的年輕男子都被抓去打仗，大部分去參軍的年輕人都死在了戰(zhàn)場(chǎng)。老翁的兒子因?yàn)橥仁軅怂员苓^了這一次劫難。