第三章 疑邻盗斧
Suspecting the Neighbor
In ancient times, a man went up the mountain to cut firewood.
After returning home, he found his axe missing.
The axe was a tool he used every day. Without the axe, he wouldn't be able to work the next day.
He searched the whole yard and the whole house, but still didn't find it.
"I clearly brought it back, how could it suddenly disappear?"
He thought for a long time and suddenly remembered that in the afternoon, only the neighbor's son had passed by the door.
"Could he have taken it?"
He had no evidence, but once this thought appeared, it stayed in his mind.
The next morning, he saw the neighbor's son pass by the door.
That young man walked with his head down. The more he looked, the more he felt that he looked like a thief, not even daring to meet anyone's eyes.
The young man said a few words with others. He felt that the voice sounded unnatural, as if hiding a secret.
The young man raised his hand to tidy his clothes, and he thought this gesture was very suspicious.
The way he walked looked like the axe thief, the way he spoke sounded like the axe thief, and even the expression on his face was like the axe thief.
He several times wanted to go up and ask, but in the end he stopped.
"Search again. If really not found, I'll go to his house."
He followed the path he had taken yesterday and went up the mountain again, walking and looking down to check.
When he reached a patch of grass, he suddenly saw a small piece of wooden handle sticking out of the grass.
He parted the grass, and the lost axe was lying right there.
It turned out that before coming down the mountain yesterday, he had rested by the grass and put the axe on the ground, forgetting to take it with him when he left.
He carried the axe back to the village and met the neighbor's son again.
The young man still walked with his head down, still talked with others in the same voice, and still raised his hand to tidy his clothes.
But this time, he felt these actions were very ordinary, not like a thief.
The neighbor's son had not changed. His voice was the same, his steps were the same, and his expression was the same.
He then understood: what had changed was himself. Suspicion had given him the answer first. Then, every action he saw seemed to prove that answer.
Everything had not changed, only the axe had returned to his hand.
Later, people used "suspecting the neighbor of stealing the axe" to mean: once you have suspicion in your heart, everything you see will seem suspicious.