◎ Jest Book by Handan Chun
There was once a person in the State Chu who was very poor and liked reading.
One day, when reading a book called Huainanzi, he found a line, “If somebody gets the leaf that a mantis uses to disguise itself when catching a cicada, he will be able to conceal his own body.”
From the day on, he wandered the forest all day long looking for a leaf that a mantis uses to disguise itself when catching a cicada. Finally, he saw a mantis concealing itself behind a leaf before catching a cicada. He was overjoyed and rushed to pick the leaf. However, he dropped the leaf on the ground out of carelessness, and the leaf got mixed in with a lot of leaves on the ground. Unable to distinguish which leaf had just fallen, he had to fetch a few baskets of the leaves and take them home.
After returning home, he used one leaf after another to cover his eyes, and asked his wife, “Can you see me?” “Yes”, answered his wife. “Can you see me?” he picked up another leaf. “Yes”, answered his wife. Annoyed by his frequent question, his wife cheated him, “No, I can’t see you now.”
Happy to hear that, the person went to the marketplace with the leaf. He covered his eyes with the leaf, took the belongings of others and turned around to leave.
As a result, he was caught by a small official on the scene, tied and taken to the local government. The county magistrate accepted the case. After hearing the person tell the whole story about his stealing, the county magistrate didn’t punish him, and instead let him go.
