One Day of Sun, Ten Days of Frost
Have you ever heard of "one day of sun, ten days of cold"? It isn't actually a fairy tale. It comes from the book Mencius, written over two thousand years ago. Mencius was a teacher who loved to talk. In this phrase, "sun" doesn't mean being angry. It's an ancient way of writing "basking in the sun." In the story, Mencius is speaking to a king. He says the king is often lazy in his work. Many people think Confucius said this, but it was actually Mencius. This story even spread to Japan and Korea!
Long, long ago, in the great city of the State of Qi, there lived a king named King Xuan of Qi.
His palace was huge, huge! The roof was made of golden tiles, and the walls were red.
Every day, guards in shiny armor stood at the gate, and servants carried fruits and snacks all around.
The children in the city all said, "The king's palace is as bright as the sun!"
King Xuan of Qi was sometimes very serious. As soon as dawn broke, he would sit in the great hall and listen to his ministers report on the people's affairs.
"Someone's field is short of water." "Someone is sick and has no medicine." The ministers spoke one by one.
The king nodded and said loudly, "I want everyone to live a good life!"
In those days, the people smiled so happily, and people were singing on the streets!
But after a few days, the king grew bored. He went to watch singing and dancing. The dancers twirled and twirled, and the king clapped and cheered. Then he went to play with his falcon, letting the eagle soar high in the sky. And the people's matters? He forgot them all! For ten days in a row, he did not hold court, and he did not listen to his ministers. The palace was noisy and lively, but the great hall was completely empty.
The people waited and waited, until their necks ached from looking. The canal in the fields broke, and the water gushed out and flowed away, and no one came to fix it. The bridge on the road collapsed, so everyone had to take a long detour. "Where has our king gone off to this time?" sighed an old grandpa. "Oh dear, he's probably watching singing and dancing again," said a little boy, shaking his head.
One day, a teacher with snow-white hair came into the palace. His name was Mencius, and he was a very learned man.
The king smiled and asked him to sit down. In his heart, he thought, "He will surely say nice things to please me."
Mencius sat down, looked at the king, and did not say a single nice thing.
The king felt a little nervous. He did not know what Mencius was going to say.
Mencius asked the king, "Suppose there is a little sapling. It gets one day of sunlight during the day, but then ten days of freezing frost at night. Can it grow up?" The king opened his eyes wide and thought about it carefully. Mencius went on, "The little sapling needs sunlight every single day. Not even one day can be missed." The king lowered his head, as if he had understood something.
The king shook his head and said: No, no, the little sapling must have frozen to death.
Mencius said again: Then, when you govern the country, is it also like this?
When the king heard this, it felt as if something had struck his heart, and for a moment he could not speak.
Mencius went on: You care for the people with all your heart for one day, but then you ignore them for ten days. The people's hearts are like little saplings—how can they ever grow tall and strong? It is just like planting a tree: you water it today, skip it tomorrow, skip it the day after, and the little sapling will wither. The people need the king's care every single day, so they can live with peace in their hearts.
King Xuan of Qi lowered his head, his face red.
He finally understood: to do good deeds, you must do them every day. You can't do them for one day and then stop for ten. That way, nothing will ever grow.
He said softly to Mencius: Thank you. I understand now.
From that day on, the king worked hard to care about his people every single day.
People wrote down what Mencius said and called it "one day of sunshine and ten days of frost," to remind everyone to be persistent in what they do.
And so this story was passed down, teaching us that we must not be lazy, and that we should keep going until the very end.
