A man from Zhao was afflicted with mice in his home, so he solicited a cat from someone in Zhongsan, and the latter gave him one. The cat was not only good at catching mice but also good at killing chickens. In a month or so, mice disappeared, and so did chickens. His son worried about what had happened and asked the father, "Why not get rid of the cat?" The father said, "You dont understand that our trouble came from the mice, not the loss of chickens, because those mice stole our food, gnawed our clothes, bored through our walls, and broke our cooking utensils. In a situation like that, we would soon suffer hunger and cold. Was that worse than we lost chickens? We could do without eating chickens, but that was far from suffering hunger and cold; therefore, why should I get rid of the cat?"