Zhuang Zhou was wandering by the edge of the Diaoling preserve when he saw a strange magpie flying up from the south. Her wings were seven feet across and her eyes were an
inch around. She bumped into his forehead and then crashed in a chestnut grove.
He said, “What kind of bird is this, with such magnificent wings that don’t get
it anywhere and such big eyes that can’t see?”
Hitching up his robes and tiptoeing forward, he gave chase, bow in hand. He saw
a cicada forgetting itself in a pretty bit of shade. A praying mantis took
advantage of the cover to grab for it, forgetting its own body at the sight of
gain. The strange magpie was right behind, eyeing the prize and forgetting its
truth.
Zhuang Zhou shuddered. “Yikes! Things certainly entangle one another, each
one dragging in the next!” He threw down his bow and ran back the way he came,
with the warden in tow, cursing at him.
Zhuang Zhou went home and didn’t come out for three days. His attendant, Strawgonna, asked,
“Sir, why haven’t you left the house recently?”
Zhuang Zhou
said, “I was guarding my body but forgot my self. I looked at muddy water and
mistook it for clear depths. I’ve heard my teacher say, ‘Out in the world,
follow its rules.’ Now I was wandering by Diaoling and forgot myself. A strange
magpie bumped my forehead, wandered into the chestnut grove, and forgot its
truth. And the grove warden took me for a poacher! That’s why I haven’t been
out.” [1]