I heard the story told recently about a king in Africa who had a close friend he grew up with.The friend had a habit of looking at every situation that ever occurred in his life（positive or negative）and remarking,"This is good!"

One day the king and his friend were out on a hunting expedition.The friend would load and prepare the guns for the king.The friend had apparently done something wrong in preparing one of the guns,for after taking the gun from his friend,the king fired it and his thumb was blown off.Examining the situation the friend remarked as usual,"This is good!"To which the king replied,"No,this is NOT good!"and proceeded to send his friend to jail.

About a year later,the king was hunting in an area that he should have known to stay clear of.Cannibals captured him and took them to their village.They tied his hands,stacked some wood,set up a stake and bound him to the stake.

As they came near to set fire to the wood,they noticed that the king was missing a thumb.Being superstitious,they never ate anyone that was less than whole.So untying the king,they sent him on his way.

As he returned home,he was reminded of the event that had taken his thumb and felt remorseful for his treatment of his friend.He went immediately to the jail to speak with his friend."You were right,"he said,"It was good that my thumb was blown off."And he proceeded to tell the friend all that had just happened."And so I am sorry for sending you to jail for so long.It was bad for me to do this."

"No,"his friend replied,"this is good!"

"What do you mean?How could it be good that I sent my friend to jail for a year?"

"If I had NOT been in jail,I would have been with you."

萬事皆宜

我聽到最近有人講非洲一位國王的故事。國王有一位一起長大的親密朋友，這個朋友習慣審視自己生活中發(fā)生的各種情況，無論正面的還是負面的，他都會說：“這是好事！”

有一天，國王和他的朋友外出打獵。這個朋友為國王裝好彈藥，準備好槍支。他顯然在準備其中一支槍時出了差錯，因為國王從朋友這里拿過槍開火后，大拇指被炸飛了。研究分析了情況后，國王的朋友像往常一樣說：“這是好事！”國王回答說：“不，這不是好事！”接著就把朋友送進了牢房。

大約一年后，國王在一片他應該知道要避開的地區(qū)打獵。食人族抓住了他，把他帶到村子里，捆住他的雙手，堆起一些木柴，豎起木樁，把他綁在木樁上。

正當他們靠近并放火點燃木柴時，他們注意到國王少了一根大拇指。因為迷信，他們從不吃不完整的人，于是就松開國王，又送他上路。

回家時，別人的提醒讓國王想起了自己失去大拇指這件事，那樣對待朋友使他感到懊悔。他馬上去牢房和朋友交談。“你是對的，”他說，“我的大拇指被炸飛是好事。”接著，他把發(fā)生的一切告訴了朋友。“因此，我很抱歉讓你坐了這么久的牢。我這樣做真糟糕。”

“不，”他的朋友回答說，“這是好事！”

“你這話什么意思？我讓朋友坐了一年牢，這怎么能是好事呢？”

“如果不坐牢，我就會跟你在一起。”