千金市骨 — “Spend a thousand gold pieces to buy horse bones”

Once upon a time, there was a king who was fond of horses and wanted to buy a steed that could travel a thousand li a day for a thousand pieces of gold. After three years, he had no success. Then, a lowly minister from his court volunteered, saying, 'Please entrust this task to me!' The king agreed.

In less than three months, the minister indeed found a superb horse. However, by the time he was about to purchase it, the horse had died. After a moment's thought, he still spent 500 gold pieces to buy the dead horse's bones.

When he returned to the palace with the bones and reported to the king, the king was furious upon seeing the horse's skeleton. He angrily scolded, 'I wanted a live horse! What use is this dead horse you bought? Wasn't that 500 gold pieces wasted?'

The minister smiled and said, 'Please calm your anger, Your Majesty. The gold was not wasted. If you are willing to pay a high price for a dead horse, the news will spread, and people will believe that you are truly sincere in your love for fine horses, that you recognize their value, and that you keep your word. In this way, people will surely come to offer you horses themselves.'

True to his word, within a year, the king indeed received three excellent horses that others willingly brought to him.