Selected Chinese Taoist Stories: English

Author: Chief Editor: Wu Canfei
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 1999-01-01
Features: Excerpt: 1. The Calabash and the Ointment for Chapped Hands
Hui Zi (Hui Tzu) (c. 370-310 B.C.), prime minister of King Hui of the State of Liang, once said to Zhuang Zi (Chuang Tzu): "My master, the king, sent me some calabash seeds. I planted them and they bore fruit as big as a five-bushel measure. I tried to use it as a bowl for holding water, but it was not solid enough for the purpose. So I cut the calabash in two and tried to make two ladles out of it, but each of them was far too big for the purpose. Thereupon, because of their uselessness, I smashed them to pieces."
"Sir," said Zhuang Zi, "it is clear that you do not know how to make all things serve their proper purpose. Now, there was once a man of the State of Song who had a secret recipe for ointment for chapped hands. From generation to generation, his family had made the bleaching and dyeing of silk their occupation, and the ointment helped them do this. A stranger heard of the ointment and offered the man 100 ounces of gold for the recipe. The family gathered to consider this proposal. 'We have,' said they, 'been bleaching and dyeing silk for generations, and we never earned more than a pittance. Now all at once we can earn 100 ounces of gold simply by disclosing the recipe for the ointment we have been using. Let us not hesitate to sell it.' And so the stranger obtained the recipe. At the time, the State of Wu was at war with the State of Yue, during which many Wu soldiers could not fight with weapons because they had chapped hands in the cold weather. Having heard of this, the man from Song went straight to the king of the State of Wu and made him a present of the recipe. Later, the king of Wu gave the stranger the command of his fleet. When the Wu fleet crashed that of Yue, the stranger was rewarded with a fief and a title. Thus, while the efficiency of the ointment to cure chapped hands was the same whether it was used by the silk workers or by the stranger, in the former case it only served to help them perform a menial task, while in the latter case it brought a man fame and wealth. This was because they used it differently. Now you, sir, had a five-bushel calabash; why did you not make of it a large bottle gourd, by means of which you could float in rivers and lakes? Instead of this, you were piqued that it was useless for holding anything. It seems that your mind is rather woolly."