Brain Teasers
Blessing or Bane
Situation
Situation puzzles (sometimes called lateral thinking puzzles) are ones where you need to ask lots of yes or no questions to figure out what happened in the situation. These are good puzzles for groups where one person knows the puzzle and answers the questions.Situation
Near China's northern borders lived a man well versed in the practices of Taoism thought, where spontaneous events can and often do bring unforeseen results, such as good results coming from bad events or bad results coming from good intentions. When one day one of this man's horses, for no reason at all, got into the territory of the northern tribes, everyone commiserated with him.
"Perhaps this will soon turn out to be a blessing, we'll see," said the man.
After a few months, his animal came back, leading a fine horse from the north. Everyone congratulated him.
"Perhaps this will soon turn out to be a cause of misfortune, we'll see," said the man.
Since he was well-off and kept good horses, his son became fond of riding and eventually broke his thigh bone falling from the very horse from the north and was never able to walk freely. Everyone commiserated with him.
"Perhaps this will soon turn out to be a blessing, we'll see," said the man.
One year later, the northern tribes started a big invasion of the border regions.
What blessing do you suppose came from the son breaking his leg?
"Perhaps this will soon turn out to be a blessing, we'll see," said the man.
After a few months, his animal came back, leading a fine horse from the north. Everyone congratulated him.
"Perhaps this will soon turn out to be a cause of misfortune, we'll see," said the man.
Since he was well-off and kept good horses, his son became fond of riding and eventually broke his thigh bone falling from the very horse from the north and was never able to walk freely. Everyone commiserated with him.
"Perhaps this will soon turn out to be a blessing, we'll see," said the man.
One year later, the northern tribes started a big invasion of the border regions.
What blessing do you suppose came from the son breaking his leg?
Hint
Who takes up arms and fight?Answer
All able-bodied young men took up arms and fought against the invaders, and as a result, around the border, nine out of ten of these men died. This man's son did not join in the fighting because he was crippled and was absolved from the obligation for his disability, so he escaped death.Taoism, here refers to a Chinese system of thought and is characterized by spontaneous creativity and by regular alternations of phenomena (such as day following night, good results coming bad events or bad results coming from good intentions.) that proceed without effort. Effortless action may be illustrated by the conduct of water, which unresistingly accepts the lowest level and yet wears away the hardest substance.
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Comments
I got the answer rather easily, so at first when I saw the very long answer I thought I was going to wrong or there was a lot of useless explaining to go along with it. I appreciated the long explanation in the end, because it contained a lot of fun facts. Simple answer, but fun facts in the teaser and answer. Very good.
Really good work. Thank you.
Very nice job, china. You write such interesting stories!
hahahahah
Piece of cake!
This may have been a blessing for the son who did not have to go fight in the battle, but it was certainly bad luck for the village. Perhaps the addition of one more soldier would have been the difference between victory and defeat!
This may have been a blessing for the son who did not have to go fight in the battle, but it was certainly bad luck for the village. Perhaps the addition of one more soldier would have been the difference between victory and defeat!
I loved that teaser! not only because I got the answer and made me think, but because it's so optimistic about the future. IT's way cool! great job!
an interesting insight into Taoism, Thank you- I was always curious how it actually worked-
I'm confused!
i dunno what you're talking about!
I recognised something like this in The Tao of Pooh--a book exploring Taoism through Winnie-the-Pooh references etc.
I got this one off the bat, but I really liked it. Nice work
Doesn't sound like much of a blessing to me
I've heard this story in Korean before. This is where the korean word 새옹지마, (å¡žç¿ä¹‹é¦¬)originated from. Meaning å¡žç¿ä¹‹é¦¬ means "Blessing of the horse".
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