There was a old Chinese farmer who used his only horse to work on his farm for years. One day the horse broke the fence and ran away when the planting season was coming up. His neighbors heard about it, they came to the farmer and said, “That is really bad luck for losing the horse at this time of the year!” The farmer replied: “Good luck, bad luck. Who knows?”
A few days later, the horse came back with a mare horse. When the neighbors heard about that, they said to the farmer, “What good luck that is, you will have more horses.” The farmer replied: “Good luck, bad luck. Who knows?”
Two days later, the farmer’s son broke his leg when he was training the new horse. The neighbor came to the farmer again and said:” what bad luck that is ?” The farmer still replied the same: “Good luck, bad luck. Who knows?”
The next day, 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 or bad luck?
Who knows?