The old woman's horse

I will tell you a story. It happened in the days of Lao Tzu in China, and for generations the followers of Lao Tzu have been sharing this story. Every time it is told people find more meaning in it.

There was an old woman in a small village, she didn't have much but there was one thing that made people envious of her. She was the guardian of a beautiful white horse. The horse had a white shining coat, silvery in the sunshine, his mane long and fine. This horse was intelligent and kind, strong and agile, proud and fast. The king and nobility had their eyes on the horse and offered remarkable prices. The old woman would counter their offers and say, 'This horse is not a horse to me, he is a person, and how can you sell a person? He is my friend, not a possession. How can you sell a friend?’ The woman was poor, and even though you could think of many reasons for her to sell the horse, she never did.

One day, she went out to wish her friend the horse a good morning and found that the horse was not in his field. Everyone in the village gathered and said, 'You foolish old woman. We knew that some day the horse would be stolen. And you being so poor, how could you have thought to protect such a precious being? It would have been better to sell it. You could have fetched any price you wanted. Now with the horse gone, all that is lost.'

The old woman said, 'Well, let's see, I agree the horse is not in the field. This is a fact; everything else is your projection of the situation. Whether it is a misfortune or not, how do you know?'

The villagers said, 'Don’t try to fool us. We may not be great philosophers, but no philosophy is needed. It is a simple fact that a treasure has been lost.'

The old woman said, 'I will stick with the fact that the field is empty and the horse is gone. Anything else is an assumption. I will remain open and see what will follow.’

Everybody laughed. They thought the old woman had lost her mind. They had always known, she wasn't like everyone else. Anyone in their right mind would have sold this horse and lived in riches. But not her, she was tending her small vegetable garden and living from what she could get from the land and the forest. Selling what she didn't need for herself in the local market. She was living hand to mouth in poverty. And now, everyone was sure that the old woman had lost her marbles.

After fifteen days, suddenly one night, the horse returned. He had not been stolen, he had escaped to the wild plains outside the village. Not only did he come back to the old woman, he brought a dozen wild horses with him. The villagers gathered and they said, 'Oh my, old woman, you were right and we were wrong. It was not a misfortune, it proved to be a blessing.'

The old woman said, 'By saying this, I can see you are going too far. Just say that the horse is back, and say that twelve horses have come with him — but don’t make any assumptions. Who knows whether it is a blessing or not? It is only a moment in time. Unless you know the whole story, how can you judge? You read one page of a book, how can you know the entire book? You read a sentence on a page — how can you judge the whole page? You read a single word in a sentence — how can you judge the whole sentence? And even a single word is not in the hand — life is so vast — a fragment of a word and you have judged the whole! Don’t say that this is a blessing, nobody knows. And I am happy in my non-judgmental way of being so please leave me be.'

This time the people could not say much; maybe the old woman was right. So they kept silent, but inside they knew well that she was wrong. Twelve beautiful horses had come with the horse. A little training and they could all be sold for a lot of money.

The old woman had one son and he started to work with the wild horses. A week later he fell from one of the horses and broke a leg. The villagers gathered and again they judged. They said, 'You were right and you proved your point. It was not a blessing, it was a misfortune. Your only son has broken a leg, and in your old age, he was your only support. Now you are poorer than ever.’

The old woman said, 'You are being led by judgment. I urge you not to let this happen. Say only that my son has broken his leg. Who knows whether this is a misfortune or a blessing? — nobody knows. It is a moment in time, and you will never know more than what is in the now. Life comes in moments, and you can only judge when you know the full picture.'

A few weeks later, the country went to war with their longstanding enemy and all the young men in the villages had to join the army. The old woman’s son was excused because he was crippled. The villagers gathered, crying and weeping because every family had to send off their strong young men. The villagers expressed their fear for their sons never coming back because the country that had attacked was strong and the fight seemed lost before it was started.

The whole town felt sad and upset, and when they saw the old woman, they said, 'You were right! Your son may be crippled, but it is wonderful he is with you. Our sons are gone forever.'

The old woman replied, 'It is very difficult talking to you as you just continue to project your fears. Nobody knows what the future holds. Just accept the cards you have been dealt and remain open to experience the outcome, whether it is a blessing or a misfortune. Nobody will ever be able to know it. Only Life knows.'