The farmer and the Englishmen

Heard this story on Yin Yue Ri Ji - Shuo Shuo Er Yi.

Once upon a time there lived a farmer and his wife. They are a very happy couple. One fine day the farmer brought their horse out to the bazaar for trading. He 1st traded the horse with a cow. Then he traded the cow with a goat, then a goose, then a hen, lastly, a big bag of apples that are going to turn bad.

The farmer met 3 Englishmen on his way home. They laughed at him & bet with him 1 bag of gold that the farmer will get a scolding from his wife when he reached home. The 3 of them followed the farmer home & were prepared to receive their bag of gold from the farmer. The farmer told his wife what had happened during the day, & to the Englishmen's surprise, she was very delighted. "Aren't you angry with your husband for getting a bag of rotten apples with your horse?" they asked. She replied by saying when she heard that he exchanged the horse with a cow, she was thinking of how much milk they would be able to get. On exchange of the cow to goat, she thought that goat's milk isn't bad too; a goose means a bag of feathers; a hen means an egg everyday. How about the bag of rotten apples? She thought of how they would be able to enjoy apple pie for that night's dinner.

Of cos in the end the Englishmen lost their bag of gold to the farmer.

Moral of the story: No matter how bad things are, we should always be optimistic and always look on the bright side. =)