A farmer once saw a hare dash into a tree stump and break its neck. Delighted by his luck, he abandoned his plow and sat by the stump every day, waiting for it to happen again.
His fields went to seed. Weeds grew where crops should have been. The people of Song laughed at him. But the farmer kept his vigil, certain that another hare would come. No second hare ever arrived.
宋人有耕者，田中有株，兔走触株，折颈而死。因释其耒而守株，冀复得兔。兔不可复得，而身为宋国笑。
宋人有耕者，田中有株，兔走触株，折颈而死。因释其耒而守株，冀复得兔。兔不可复得，而身为宋国笑。
Reflection & Analysis · 寓意解读
Core Wisdom
Luck is not a strategy. Those who cling to a fortunate accident, hoping to repeat it without effort, will harvest only emptiness.
Han Feizi used this story to mock those who clung to outdated policies simply because they had worked once. The farmer's error is not laziness — it is pattern-seeking in randomness. He experienced one event and constructed a rule from it.
This is the ancient Chinese version of survivorship bias. We remember the one time something worked by chance and forget the thousand times it didn't. The antidote is simple: do the work. Plow the field. Don't wait for the next hare.