For our trip, April brought a children's book on cd titled "In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson", which we listened to while driving to Nevada. In the story, the main character recounts a story from her grandfather:

Once upon a time an old man in China had one horse and one son. One day the horse strayed and got lost. When the old man's neighbors heard this, they went to tell the old man they were sorry about his bad luck. "How do you know it is bad luck?" he asked.

Soon thereafter the horse returned, and he brought back with him many wild horses. Now the neighbors came to congratulate the man on his good luck. "How do you know it is good luck?" he asked.

With so many horses, the son took up riding. One day, he was thrown and broke his leg. Once more, the neighbors came to the old man. Once more, they expressed sorrow at his bad luck. Once more, he asked, "How do you know it is bad luck?"

Very soon thereafter a war broke out and the military came to the old man's village to draft all the young men into the army to fight. Because of his broken leg, the old man's son did not have to go to war.