"It was winter then, and the weather was very cold. The armies of the State of Yue and the State of Wu fought on water. As the Wu army had this secret prescription, not a single soldier in the army suffered from frostbite of hands or feet. In the end, they totally vanquished the Yue army. For this, the King of Wu rewarded that man generously and offered him a high post.

"Some people use the medicine for preventing chilblains to get high posts and titles, while others only use it to bleach and wash cotton wadding for others. Why? This is because some people can put inferior timber to big use whereas others put fine timber only to petty use."

Zhuang Zi stopped at this point, thought for a while, then continued again: "Sir, you should also learn to utilize your large gourd. I think, instead of using the gourd as a ladle for water, it would be better to use it as a yao zhou (floating aid) to cross rivers and seas. Won't it be better than the present state?"

After hearing this, Hui Zi nodded repeatedly and admitted that Zhuang Zi was wiser than he. He said with a sigh: "It seems that I am a person with a muddled head after all."

一天，惠子见到庄子，讲了这样一件事：“惠王赐给我大葫芦的种子。我把它种在地里，不久，真的结了个很大的葫芦，恐怕装得下五石谷子。我也是第一次看到这么大的葫芦，高兴极了。但它却解决不了我一点儿实际问题，一气之下，我把它砸碎了。”

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