The Wise Arborist
故事全文
Once upon a time, there was a hunchback called Hunchbacked Kuo. He was skilled at planting trees. Every tree that he planted grew tall and strong, and bore juicy and plentiful fruit.
Someone asked him why only he could plant so well, to which he replied, "I merely allow the trees to grow naturally and undisturbed. "Hunchback Kuo said, “But when others plant trees, the tree roots are curled up and directly buried in the soil, and the soil is either too tightly packed or too loose. After planting the tree, they keep coming back to check, touch, and some even grab and shake the trees, to see how they are growing. Though they seem to care about the trees, they are actually hurting them instead. ”
The person then asked, “Your way of planting trees is so effective. Can it be applied to governing people? ”
Hunchback Kuo shook his head and said, “I only know how to plant trees. I am not familiar with how to govern people. However, where I am from, the officials issue orders and decrees very frequently. On the surface, it seems like they care about us. But they keep calling us away from work, to tell us the importance of hard work. After listening to them talk the whole day, we don’t even have time to eat, let alone work. I guess this is somewhat similar to the principle of planting trees! "
