塞翁が馬
And in romaji:
sai-ō ga uma
And English: "Old man Sai (lost) his horse."
This saying relates to the parable I shared yesterday: That Will Pass. The parable was about how everything, good or bad, will pass. This saying is similar but different; it is about the paradoxical alternation of good and bad. You think something is good, but it turns out to be bad; you think something is bad, but it turns out to be good... almost like the universe is having a joke at our expense. This proverb alludes to a story about a man whose horse ran away (bad), but then it came home bringing some wild horses (good), but when his son rode one of those horses and broke his leg (bad), but then when government officials came to conscipt soldiers for the army, the son was not taken (good). Even if that is where the story ends, you know it just goes on and on: good and bad, bad and good. It's life! This famous saying/story has its own article at Wikipedia.
My vocabulary for today:
馬
うま
"horse"
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