A story about a Chinese farmer whose stoic response to events teaches that one cannot know if something is good or bad luck until much later. In the story, a farmer’s horse runs away and his neighbors call it bad luck. He replies, “Maybe.” The next day, the horse returns with wild horses, and his neighbors call it good luck; he again replies, “Maybe”. When his son breaks his leg trying to ride a wild horse, the neighbors offer sympathy, and he says, “Maybe”. The following day, army officials arrive to draft young men, but they pass over the farmer’s son because of his injury, and the neighbors exclaim it’s good fortune, to which the farmer again replies, “Maybe”.
