There was once a fool who, on coming to the capital for the civil examination, discovered that he had lost his leather bag.
The city of Dingzhou was surrounded by the Tartar army. Sun Yangao, the prefect, was so frightened he no longer appeared at his official quarters, but shut himself in his private house and had the door bolted. Official documents were passed through a tiny window.
One day a learned scholar was buying a donkey on the market. A deed had to be filled out recording the transaction.
Once in Liaodong, a swineherd’s sow farrowed a piglet with a white head, and thinking it a prodigy he decided to present it to the court.
There is an old saying, ”No matter how big a net one may spread, each bird is caught in a single hole.”