There was once a lord
who wished for a new horse and he asked his advisor where a fine specimen might
be found. The advisor thought for a moment and then declared that he had an old
friend who was expert in the qualities of horses and that he would send at once
for his best animal. A letter soon arrived from his friend in the country
announcing that he would soon be sending a black stallion as a gift to the
lord. When the horse arrived however, it turned out to be a brown mare. ‘You
said your friend was an expert!’ the lord complained, ‘But he doesn’t even know
the color or sex of his own horses!’
Oh, as he really come as
far as that?’ the advisor sighed in admiration. ‘So keen is his sight that he
no longer even sees the outer characteristics of the horse, only its inner
quality.’
