One day the horse escaped into the hills and when all the farmer's
neighbors sympathized with the old man over his bad luck, the farmer
replied, "Bad luck? Good luck? Who knows?" A week later the horse
returned with a herd of wild horses from the hills and this time the
neighbors congratulated the farmer on his good luck. His reply was,
"Good luck? Bad luck? Who knows?" Then, when the farmer's son was
attempting to tame one of the wild horses, he fell off its back and
broke his leg. Everyone thought this very bad luck. Not the farmer,
whose only reaction was, "Bad luck? Good luck? Who knows?" Some weeks
later the army marched into the village and conscripted every
able-bodied youth they found there. When they saw the farmer's son with
his broken leg they let him off. Now was that good luck? Bad luck? Who
knows?
Sadhana de Mello: A Way to God: Christian Exercises in Eastern Form, St. Louis: Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1979, 134.
tags: Failure Failure × Luck Luck ×