One day his horse broke out of the corral and fled to the freedom of the hills.

“Your horse got out? What bad luck!” said his neighbor.

“Why?” the old man responded. “How do you know it’s bad luck?”

Sure enough, the next night the horse came back to his feeding and watering, leading 12 wild stallions with him! The farmer’s son saw the 13 horses in the corral, slipped out and locked the gate. Suddenly he had 13 horses instead of none.

The neighbor heard the good news and came chattering to the farmer. “Oh, you have 13 horses,” the neighbor said. “What good luck!”

The old man answered, “How do you know that’s good luck?”

Some days later his strong, young son was trying to break one of the wild stallions only to be thrown off and break a leg. The neighbor came back that night and passed another hasty judgment: “Your son broke his leg. What bad luck!”

The wise father answered again “How do you know it’s bad luck?”