Losing the Track of a Missing Sheep

Losing the Track of a Missing Sheep

Once, a neighbor of Yang Zi lost a sheep. He came over to ask Yang’s child to look for it together with him and his family.

“Why, is it necessary to have so many people together just to search for one sheep?” Yang wondered.

“There are several forks in the road, so we need more people to help,” the neighbor answered.

After the whole search party returned, Yang inquired if they had found the lost sheep.

“No. It has gone for good.”

“How can that be?”

“Each fork in the road has one or more forks. We did not know which way the sheep had gone, so we had to give up and returen.”

Hearing this, a dark cloud came over Yang Zi’  face. He was gloomy and silent for a long time, and did not smile throughout the day. This surprised his disciples who ventured to ask: “A sheep is not worth much and besides, it is not your sheep. Why do you, our respected teacher, speak so little and smile not at all?”

Yang Zi did not answer, and his disciple were never answered.

中国成语故事之十四——歧路亡羊

杨子的邻居丢失了羊，于是率领他的朋友，还请杨子的童仆一起追赶。杨子说：“呵！丢一只羊，干吗要这么多人去追？”邻居说：“岔路很多。”不久回来了，杨子问：“找到羊了吗？”回答：“走掉了。”问：“怎么会呢？”回答：“岔路之中还有岔路。我们不知道往哪边去追，所以就回来了。”杨子的脸色变得很犹豫，不说话有两个小时，没有笑容一整天。他的学生觉得奇怪，请教杨子道：“羊，不过是下贱的畜生，而且还不是老师您的，却使你苟不言笑，这是为什么？”杨子没有回答，他的学生最终没有得到他的答案。