Chinese Ancient Fables: SUSPICION and THE CRUMBLING WALL

Chinese Ancient Fables:

SUSPICION and THE CRUMBLING WALL

Researched by Dr Abe V Rotor

1. Suspicion 

"Suspicion is the cancer of friendship." - Francesco Petrarch

A man who lost his axe suspected his neighbor's son of stealing it.  He watched the way the lad walked - exactly like a thief.  He watched the boy's expression - it was that of a thief.  He watched the way he talked - just like a thief.  In short, all his gestures and actions proclaimed him guilty of theft.

But later he found the axe himself when he went out to dig.  And after that, when he saw his neighbor's son, all the lad's gestures and actions looked quite unlike those of a thief. ~

2. The Crumbling Wall

"Labeling automatically leads to false conclusions and wrong assumptions about others."- Alan G. Fields

There was once a rich man in the state of Sung.  After a downpour of rain his wall began to crumble.

"If you don't mend that wall," warned his son, "a thief will get in.

 An old neighbor gave the same advice.

That night, indeed, a great deal of money was stolen.  Then the rich man commended his son's intelligence, but suspected his old neighbor of being the thief. ~

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* Researched by the author during his visit to the People's Republic of China on October 2 to 8, 1982. Acknowledgement: Chinese Ancient Fables, Foreign Languages Press Beijing, China; cartoon images from Internet