The Magic Yoke
In the province of Yunnan, where the Yi people have lived since ancient times, there is a great mountain called Guanyinspan. At the foot of the mountain flows a swift stream with cool water. Every day, the village shepherds bring their cows here, while they themselves settle on the bank as the cows graze and drink the clear spring water.One day, the shepherds noticed something strange: exactly at noon, a beautiful girl would appear out of nowhere, and the herd, which usually had ninety-nine cows, would suddenly have one hundred. By evening, when it was time to drive the cows back to the village, there would be ninety-nine again, and the girl would disappear.
The shepherds soon befriended the beauty and grew very fond of her. She knew many interesting stories and was a wonderful storyteller.
"Among these cows," the girl said one day, "there is one that is not ordinary but magical: it walks on water as if it were land—the waves part before it. You can ride it across the sea. That's the kind of cow it is! And every hair on its back is magical: it can bear a thousand jin (a jin is a measure of weight, approximately 500 grams). With such a hair, a person can carry any weight without tiring."
Hearing this, the shepherds became eager to find out which cow was the magical one. But the girl only smiled and said:
"One can only earn a miraculous thing through honest labor."
With these words, she disappeared as the sun was setting behind the mountain.
The shepherds were amazed and decided that a heavenly fairy had come to them. They counted the cows—ninety-nine. The fairy must have taken the magical cow back to heaven with her!
The next day, the shepherds wanted to enjoy some wild apples. They climbed a tree, began picking the fruit, and didn't notice that the cows had wandered into a cornfield. They would have trampled the entire crop if an old watchman hadn't spotted them. He ran to the field, shouting and waving his arms, but how could one man handle such a herd? The old man grabbed his old yoke, which he used to carry firewood, and began hitting the cows. The yoke had served him for many years, cracked and worn by sun and rain.
The old man drove the cows away and, exhausted, sat down to rest. He didn't notice that clumps of cow hair had gotten stuck in the cracks of his old yoke.
The sun was setting, and it was time to go home. The old man gathered two bundles of firewood, hung them on the yoke, and was surprised: "What's this? Why is it so easy to carry?"
He added another bundle—and didn't even feel the weight! He added one more—and the yoke still didn't feel heavier. What kind of miracle was this? The old man loaded the yoke with as much firewood as it could hold, leaving only a narrow gap for his shoulder. He carried it—and felt no weight! He walked unusually fast, as if someone were pushing him. Pleased, the old man returned home: he had brought a lot of firewood and wasn't tired at all!
From that day on, he began carrying huge bundles of firewood to the city market. Now he had enough money for food and drink, with plenty left over. And his life became much better than before.
One day, as the old man was carrying firewood to the city, he met a rich man on the road. The rich man saw the old man carrying such a heavy load and was amazed: could an old man really carry so much? He stopped the old man and began questioning him.
"I have a miraculous yoke," the old man replied. "No matter how much you load it, you don't feel the weight!"
The rich man didn't believe it and tried it himself. Indeed, the old man was right: the yoke with the firewood felt as if it had no load at all! The rich man's eyes lit up, and he begged the old man:
"Sell me your yoke! I'll give you five hundred taels of silver for it."
The old man hesitated for a long time: he was reluctant to part with such a yoke. But the rich man pestered him like a mosquito—sell it, sell it!
"Alright," thought the old man, "with these five hundred taels of silver, I'll be set for life, and you can work hard and gather firewood yourself!"
The old man received the silver, and the rich man got the magical yoke. They went their separate ways. The rich man returned home, admiring his yoke—he couldn't be happier: now he would fire all his laborers and carry the firewood himself.
He began stroking the yoke and noticed its cracks.
The rich man went to the village carpenter and ordered him to plane and polish the yoke until it shone.
The carpenter took a plane, ran it over the yoke a few times, and removed all the hairs from the magical cow. The yoke became smooth and shiny, but... its magical power was gone!
The rich man returned home and began boasting to his wife about his purchase. She thought, "Last year, when we had a bountiful harvest, he wasn't this happy! He must have bought something truly valuable."
She wanted to test the yoke's magical properties herself. She hung a small bundle of firewood on it—nothing too heavy.
"Don't be afraid," her husband shouted. "The yoke is magical! You could hang a whole house on it and not feel the weight!"
He brought two huge bundles of firewood and hung them on the yoke.
"Now, lift it!"
The wife strained, groaned, and collapsed to the ground.
"Ugh! What kind of magic is this?! Did you dream this up or something?"
"Can a woman truly understand real magic?" thought the rich man. He added two more bundles of firewood, yanked the yoke with all his might, and... it snapped in two!
And so it had to be: after all, one can only earn a magical thing through honest labor!
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