Pen Lo had bred horses for the duke for many years. Now he was getting old and the duke asked him if there was anyone in his family who would be able to take over from him.
Pen Lo said, "You can tell a high-quality horse by looking at its muscles and appearance, but the best horses are the ones that cannot be judged by their appearance only. You must be able to see their inner nature. No one in my family has this ability, but I do know of one man who might be able to help you. He is a poor man who hauls wood and vegetables for a living yet he has the ability to differentiate the great horse from the merely good."
The duke was happy then and sent for the man and asked him to find him a special horse. The man was gone for three months and then sent word to the duke that he had found such a horse.
"What kind of horse is it?" asked the duke.
"It is a yellow mare," came the answer.
So the duke sent for the horse and it turned out to be a black stallion. He was angry then and sent for Pen Lo. "This man you sent to me knows nothing about horses," he said. "He cannot even tell a mare from a stallion, never mind yellow from black."
Pen Lo's face lit up. "Ah," he said, "It is even better than I had hoped. His ability is now ten thousand times greater than mine. He has completely transcended judging a horse by its appearance and sees only its inner nature. When he looks at the horse he does not see male or female or what color it is but looks instead to its very essence. In this way he can see the potential for greatness in a horse."
Indeed, when he had sent for the horse, the duke found that it was the greatest horse he had ever seen.
- LIEH TZU
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