Following the Map to Find a Horse

People say, "Only when there is Hakuraku¹ in the world can there be chollima²," which suggests that "chollima" is Hakuraku's invention. If horses had consciousness, they would probably despise the concept of chollima. The fortunate horses gallop freely in the wilderness, expressing their true nature; the unfortunate ones, though confined to stables, at least preserve their lives. However, the "chollima" favored by Hakuraku must follow generals on campaigns, facing constant dangers and extraordinary hardships. When they finally die, if their rider has some conscience and plans a grand burial, he might even be dissuaded:
"The sage Confucius did not concern himself with horses. If you, my lord, lavishly bury a horse, it will dishearten the people³ who follow you. Better to cut it into small pieces and distribute the meat to everyone—let the iron pot serve as the coffin and stomachs as graves.
This is the proper funeral for a horse."

Therefore, "Hakuraku is not always present" is truly a stroke of luck. If Hakuraku were always around, who knows how many more "chollima" would die unnatural deaths? Just as the Literary Chinese idiom "懷才不遇" (having talent but not having an opportunity) also describes a stroke of luck. Wealth comes after talents, as in Literary Chinese the kanji "才" (talent) can be used as the kanji "財" (wealth), so the Literary Chinese idiom "懷才不遇" (having talent but not having an opportunity) can be interpreted as "懷財不遇(盜)" (having wealth but not having an opportunity to be robbed). If someone carries a fortune and walks alone in the dark of night without meeting robbers or thieves, that is indeed fortunate.

If one is incompetent, they are even more lucky. If a horse is incompetent, even when Hakuraku approaches, it need not fear. It's like a poor person walking at night—those who would rob for wealth have nothing to target.⁴

In the 7th volume of Planting Seeds in Forests and Cultivating Virgin Soil in Mountains,⁵ there is a story about "following the map to find a horse":

Hakuraku's Manual of Horse Evaluation contains the phrase "a high forehead, a pair of big and round eyes,⁶ big and regular hooves." His son went to search for horses based on the Manual. When he saw a large toad, he told his father: "I found a horse that closely matches the description, except the hooves are a bit irregular." Knowing his son's foolishness, Hakuraku turned his anger into laughter and said: "This horse is too good at jumping to ride on."

Hakuraku's son, following his father's Manual, found a toad. I prefer to believe this was his way of expressing to Hakuraku that he refused to evaluate horses. Having spent his life evaluating horses, Hakuraku's son probably grew up in the company of horses. As a child, he might not have understood what "thousand-li ability" meant. What the child saw were one adorable horse after another, one horse after another that was kept for a while and then sent away, and one horse after another that perished on battlefields and buried in human bellies. Naturally, he could not approve of what Hakuraku has done and certainly did not wish to evaluate horses himself. So he found a toad instead. This was Hakuraku's son's foolishness. Hakuraku had once recommended another famous horse tamer Nonapath⁷ to Duke of Cin ⁸, showing that he was also skilled at evaluating people, so he understood his son's intention. That's why he "turned his anger into laughter." First came anger, then helpless, bitter laughter. "This horse is too good to ride on" was his metaphor showing that he understood his son's meaning—horses are by nature unruly and out of human control.

English translation by GPT-4.1 and proofread by Gemini 2.5 Pro and weakish.

按圖索驥

人道「世有伯樂，然後有千里馬」，可見「千里馬」是伯樂的發明。 「千里」云云，馬若有知，恐不以爲然。 馬之幸者，馳騁於曠野，盡其天性；不幸者，雖處槽櫪之間，猶得全生。 然而被伯樂相中的「千里馬」，卻是隨將帥四處出征，危機四伏，艱險異常。 最後死了，主人有點良心，打算厚葬，說不定還會遭到謀士的勸阻：

「孔聖人不問馬，主公您厚葬馬，會讓跟隨您的士人寒心呀。 不如割成小塊，分給大家吃了，鐵鍋作棺槨，腸胃爲墓地，這纔是馬該有的葬禮呀。」

所以「伯樂不常有」，實在是幸事。 倘若伯樂常有，不知又會有多少「千里馬」死於非命。
就像「懷才不遇」也是幸事。 「才」通「財」，「懷才不遇」，便是「懷財不遇盜」。 若是一人攜帶巨款暗夜獨行，沒碰上強盜小偷，那實在是幸事。

若是無能，那就更幸運。馬若無能，伯樂走到跟前，也不懼。 好比窮醜之婦夜行，劫財劫色者皆無從下手。

明楊慎《藝林伐山》卷七裏有一個「按圖索驥」的故事：

伯樂《相馬經》有「隆顙蛈日，蹄如累麴」之語，其子執《馬經》以求馬， 出見大蟾蜍，謂其父曰：「得一馬，略與相同；但蹄不如累麴爾。」 伯樂知其子之愚，但轉怒為笑曰：「此馬好跳，不堪御也。」

伯樂的兒子根據老爸的《馬經》，找到了一枚癩蛤蟆。 我願意相信，這其實是在向伯樂表態自己不相馬。 伯樂一生相馬，伯樂之子小時候大抵是與馬爲伴，千里之能什麼的，小孩未必明白。 小孩眼裏看到的，是一匹又一匹可愛的馬兒，是一匹又一匹養了一段時間就被送走的馬兒，是一匹又一匹喪生沙場、葬於人腹的馬兒。

因此自然無法認同伯樂的行爲，自己當然更不願相馬。所以便找了一個癩蛤蟆。 這是伯樂之子的愚處。伯樂曾經推薦九方皋給秦穆公，可見他也善相人，自然明白了其子的意圖， 所以說是「伯樂知其子之愚，但轉怒為笑」。起初是怒，後來是無奈苦笑。 「此馬好跳，不堪御也。」便是表明自己心知其子之意，癩蛤蟆是個隱喻——馬性跳脫，不堪爲人所御。