Once upon a time, there was a peasant who was living in a village in the interior of China.
One morning, at first hour, his only horse escaped from him to the mount. Some neighbors approached, to be sorry with him: «what misfortune!». «It could be», he answered them.
About mid morning the horse returned to its corral. With it there were coming a small group of wild horses. «What luck you had!», said to him his neighbors. The peasant answered them: «it could be».
In the middle of the evening, his son put to tame the new horses. During the taming, he fell and broke a leg. This would bring him many problems to be able to carry out his small farm. His neighbors returned and said to him: «what a pity sorry!». He answered them: «it could be».
In the last evening a group of soldiers passed, doing a levy. The young men of all the houses in the village were recruited. But they left his son at home, because he was useless for the military service. The neighbors, crying, approached the peasant and said to him: «what luck you had!». And he answered them: «it could be».