There was a king who was willing to pay a thousand pieces of gold for a horse that could run a thousand mile without stopping. For three years he tried in vain to find such a steed.
Then someone offered Let me look for a horse for Your Majesty.
The king agreed to this.
After three months this man came back, having spent five hundred pieces of gold on a horse's skull.
The king was most enraged.
I want a live horse he roared. What use is a dead horse to me ? Why spend five hundred pieces of gold on nothing ?
But the man replied if you will spend five hundred pieces of gold on a dead horse, won't you give much more for a live one? When people hear of this, they will know you are really willing to pay for a good horse, and will quickly send you their best.
Sure enough, in less than a year the king succeeded in buying three excellent horses.
A family in the state of Sung made an excellent ointment for chapped hands ; so for generations they engaged in laundering. A man who heard of this offered a hundred pieces of gold for their recipe.
We have been in the laundry trade for generations, said this family as they discussed the matter. But we never made more than a few pieces of gold. Today we can sell our recipe for a hundred pieces. By all means let us sell it.
Now the state of Yueh was invading the state of Wu, and having bought the recipe this man presented it to the Prince of Wu, who thereupon made him a general. His troops fought a naval action with those of Yueh that winter, and completely routed the enemy. Then the prince made him a noble, rewarding him with a fief.
Thus the same ointment for chaps could win a fief or simply aid laundrymen.
All depends upon the use to which things are put.
