At our Bible class last Sunday, someone told this story. I suspect it comes from Japan, especially since the person said that he first heard it from Dr. Masaki of Concordia Theological Seminary.
A farmer had a horse break out of the fence and run away. His neighbor said, “That’s too bad.”
The farmer replied, “How do you know it’s bad?”
The next day the horse came back. Trailing him were a great number of wild horses. Now the farmer had a whole herd of horses. His neighbor said, “That’s good.”
The farmer replied, “How do you know it’s good?”
The next day, the farmer’s son was trying to break one of the wild horses. He was bucked off and broke his leg. His neighbor said, “That’s too bad.”
The farmer said, “How do you know it’s bad?”
The next day, a war broke out. The emperor drafted all the young men into his army. Except the farmer’s son, whose leg was broken. His neighbor said, “That’s good.”
The farmer said, “How do you know it’s good?”. . . .
Let’s CONTINUE THE STORY and see how far we can take the adventures of this philosophical farmer. Each person post a new episode, building on the previous one.
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Then the neighbor punched the farmer in the face and asked, “what about that, was that good or bad?”
I’ll go first:
The war was lost, due to the lack of a messenger on a fast horse. (The farmer’s son was known as the fastest rider in the land.) Now the land was taken over by the enemy. The farmer’s neighbor said, “That’s too bad.”
The farmer said, “How do you know it is bad?”
Joe got in first. The farmer would answer, “You are the one who thinks you always know. I am not giving any answers, remember?” So pick up with the country losing the war.
I apologize for my first post, I play nice now.
The concurring enemy nation, established an economic system that encouraged trade with the people in its motherland and the farmer became very wealthy selling horses. The farmer’s neighbor said, “That’s good.”
The farmer said, “How do you know it is good?”
Brilliant, Joe! Notice how this will get us into contemplating our own situations. The point, people, is not to shut it off (“and the farmer and the neighbor got killed”), but to keep it going. OK, sorry for interrupting. Go on. . . .How do you know economic prosperity is going to be good for the farmer?
As the land prospered, technological advancements were made. These technological advancements included automobiles. As a result, fewer horses were in demand and the farmer’s income was decreased. The farmer’s neighbor said, “That’s to bad.”The farmer said, “How do you know it is bad?”
I can’t spell or use html this morning. : )
As automobiles replaced horses for everyday transportation, many of the newly wealthy in the country prized fast horses that were well trained. The farmer and his son were able to provide fast, well trained racing horses and so became prosperous.
The farmer’s neighbor said, “That’s good.”
The farmer said, “How do you know it is good?”
We can’t know (for sure).
The farmer bred a champion stallion but it had to be euthanized before it was bred to any of the farmer’s mares; so the farmer lost his entire investment in the horse.
The farmer’s neighbor said, “That’s too bad.”
The farmer said, “How do you know it is bad?”
Due to the farmer’s involvement with breeding race horses, the son gets caught up in gambling and cannot stop himself. After some time, the son racks up a small fortune of indebtedness to the bookies.
The farmer’s neighbor said, “That’s too bad.”
The farmer said, “How do you know it is good?”
Correction: “How do you know it is bad?”
I will keep with Heidi’s addition.
So the farmer sought placed ads throughout the land in search of someone with a champion stallion in need of mares for breeding. A man who owned a champion and no other horses responded. They partnered together. Not only did they prosper, but the farmer made a new friend in the process.
The farmer’s neighbor said, “That’s good.”
The farmer said, “How do you know it is good?”
The son hits bottom and returns to his father who runs out to meet him before he even reaches home.
(You know, this feels like a Christian Rorschach test).
The farmer’s neighbor said: “That’s good.”
The farmer replied: “How do you know it’s good?”
Josh and I posted simultaneously. Now either take your choice or we have 2 threads.
(combining Rose and Josh’s threads):
The farmer uses his new wealth to pay of his sons debts and gives him a job in his new horse breeding partnership. The son takes advantage of the farmer’s generosity and this leads to the dissolution of the horse breeding partnership.
The farmer’s neighbor said, “That’s too bad.”
The farmer said, “How do you know it is bad?”
The son has a son himself who becomes taken with the daughter of the former partner thus re-cementing the relationship between the two families.
The farmer’s neighbor said: “That’s good.”
The farmer replied: “How do you know it’s good?”
The partner disapproves of his daughter dating this guy with previous bad life-choices, and refuses the relationship.
This leads to a break-up in the business partnership, and the partner take the conflict to court.
The farmer’s neighbor said: “That’s bad.”
The farmer replied: “How do you know it’s bad?”
The judge decides in favor of the farmer, ruling that it was the partner who had broken the contract. The farmer invested some of what he won from his partner to help build an orphanage in the next town.
The farmer’s neighbor said “Well, that’s good!”
The farmer replied, “How do you know it’s good?”
Several employees of the orphanage begin selling illegal drugs out of the orphange and use the kids to run the drugs. The farmer finds out and tells his neighbor.
The farmer’s neighbor said “Well, that’s too bad!”
The farmer replied, “How do you know it’s bad?”
Government officials find out about the drug-trafficking scheme running out of the orphanage, and infiltrate it with very short secret agents. The information they collect enables them to break the back of a gigantic international crime ring.
The farmer’s neighbor said, “Wow! That’s good!”
The farmer asked “How do you know that it’s good?”
The busted drug traficking scheme results in the disruption of the production of poppies in Afghanistan, throwing thousands of small time farmers into poverty and driving them into the arms of the Taliban.
The farmer’s neighbor said; “Wow! That’s too bad!”
The farmer replied: “How do you know it’s bad?”
The U.S. Airforce drops bombs on the militants and they die and go to hell. The farmer’s neighbor, a Calvinist, said, “That’s good!”
The farmer replied: “How do you know it’s good?”
The Afghani farmers who were not killed in the bombings, realizing that life under the Taliban is not so great after all, sign up for the USAID program that teaches them how to raise other more stable crops. These farms form the backbone of a new peaceful agrarian/middle class in Afghanistan’s society.
The farmer’s neighbor said, “That’s good!”
The farmer replied: “How do you know it’s good?”
And peaceful middle class farmer opened a shoe store to fit out all the middle class feet in need and the neighbor said that is good.
The farmer said nothing for he knew his neighbor well. God, The Father will give us all the answers in his time.
Wow. I’m glad the story ended well. I was sure every0ne, including the Calvinists, would be run over by trucks.
This is not unlike the “group novel” I’ve been involved with, where a group of people write a serial novel, each in turn. It doesn’t work so well on a discussion blog, as we’ve seen. I also used to do this while camping, around campfires: one person would start a story, introduce a couple of characters, and then pass the story on to the next person, and around we’d go. You definitely find out who the good story tellers are, and who aren’t.
It’s funny that the story got sort of glommed up in economics. I thought someone would say, after the end of the war, “The new Emperor was a Democrat who believed in taxing the rich, so the farmer soon lost all of his horses and his land.” But that would be good because the new Emperor started universal health-care, which healed the son’s broken leg.
If anyone wants to take it from there, go ahead. (I’m starting to see what is meant with alternative realities. . . .)
The United States elected a president who is a radical Zionist Republican. Knowing the democrat Emperor could be bought off cheap did so and annexed Afghanistan and gave it to Israel.
The farmer’s neighbor said; “Wow! That’s too bad!”
The farmer replied: “How do you know it’s bad?”
The farmer, sitting on his back porch, read the report of this annexation, cried out loudly in astonishment which spooked his horse. The horse bolted, broke through the fence and ran away.
The farmer’s neighbor said, “That’s too bad.”
The farmer replied, “It’s all good.”
The horse eventually wandered back, trailing with it vines of a type the farmer had never seen before. He brought it to a botanist, who declared them to be a new species. The new plant was named after the farmer.
“Well,” said the neighbor, “that’s some good luck.”
The farmer asked “How do you know that it’s good?”