Puzzler's Space

Practice 1: Like the Mouth of the Stairwell

Ah Er, a jester, was in the court of a local financier by the name of Jijin Qian. The appointment was on behalf of a tailor who had hidden a large sum of gold away in the family field where it was washed away in last week's flood.

Spoke the financier: "Foolish ones. You have no pride. But it is fortunate that neither you nor I, in fact, have pride. I have heard of your exploits across the land. You say you are a philosopher and a sage who has seen the Utmost Sight, which would mark you as entirely untrustworthy, but I will give you a chance at redemption. Prove that your foolishness is not as severe as we all have thought, and I will entertain you - rather an interesting turnaround - with a favor of my own."

Spoke the financier: "Such is the task: The tailor in truth is a thief. The money is false, stolen from my own requisition. But I cannot deliver the mandate due to the Natural Law. How might I resolve the blame?"

Spoke Ah Er: "You are curious. Say that the tailor is a thief. Then the thief, against the Human Law, will take beyond their need. But say that the tailor is righteous. Then, according to the Natural Law, what is taken is needed, if not in the current time, then in the future. If the water has taken the gold, then it is according to the Natural Law. What has prepared the gold? The tailor. Then, the tailor has created the situation which Natural Law has resolved. If the nature of the gold is that of evil, then in its removal we have produced good. If the nature of the gold is that of good, then the tailor has only made an innocuous offering to nature. Then there is no blame."

Spoke the financier: "Say that the house of the tailor was lit aflame in a firestorm. On account of inadequate insulation, the fire then spread to the Palaces and reduced them to ash."

Spoke Ah Er: "Then that is just unfortunate. How about this. Say that the estate of the financier was crushed by a rampaging Stone-Spirit."

Spoke the financier: "Ha ha! Incredible. You are truly a fool."

Spoke Ah Er: "And see, I am also a sage."

Practice 1: What happened to the financier?