A Poor Man’s Sheep

Ancient Wisdom

During the Spring and Autumn Period, there was a man named Song Lingzi. He was very poor but content and happy. Meanwhile, a very wealthy man named Wei Wenhou laughed at Song often and even made contemptuous remarks. One day Wei said to Song, “You have always been poor, but do you want to be poor for the rest of your life?”

Song ignored his offensive remark and looked at Wei for a moment. Song said calmly, “Please don’t worry about me, and let me tell you something. A few days ago I had a dream of a rich man who owned 99 sheep, but he wanted one more to make it 100. The rich man thought about it day after day, yet he could not find any more sheep to buy. Finally he noticed that his poor neighbor had one sheep. So the rich man went over to his neighbor, and he begged his poor neighbor to sell him the sheep.”

Song continued, “If a super rich man still needs help from others, it is hard to tell who is really rich and who is really poor.” Song concluded, “A rich man may not be truly rich, and a poor man may not be truly poor.”