Once upon a time there was a small shoemaker, his name was “Master”, in fact, people do not know what he is called, so they used to call him “Master Shoemaker”.He was not tall, thin as a bamboo pole, but full of energy, moving around all day, can not be idle for a moment.
He has a small nose upwards, gray face, hair messy, small eyes, always turning, as if looking for someone’s problem.He looked at everything very carefully, and especially love to nitpick, always think he is right, others are wrong.
One day, he was walking along the street and saw a girl carrying a bucket of water.I don’t know what happened, but he walked with his hands dancing like a rowing boat, and accidentally bumped into the girl’s bucket, spilling all the water and drenching himself.
But instead of apologizing, he yelled at the girl, “You fool!Can’t you see I’m right behind you?Why are you so careless!”Tell me, isn’t this man a bit too much?
The master cobbler was a craftsman who made shoes.He has a bad temper, but he works hard.When he pulls the thread, he uses extra strength, and anyone standing next to him has to duck away, or else they’ll be hit by his fists if they’re not careful.
He had several apprentices, but none of them could work for him for a full month.Why?Because he was too picky.No matter how hard they worked, he always found a problem.Either the shoes were sewn crookedly, or one shoe was longer than the other; or the heels were not the same height, or the leather was not soft enough.
Once, when an apprentice had just hammered a piece of leather a few times, he rushed over and said, “Stop!I’ll show you how to do it.”Then he picked up a belt and whipped the apprentice hard on the back a few times.Who would dare to follow such a teacher?
He gave each apprentice a nickname, like “lazybones” or “losers”.But he didn’t do much work himself, because he couldn’t sit still.In the morning, before dawn, when his wife had just started the fire, he jumped out of bed, ran barefoot into the kitchen, and shouted to her: “Do you want to burn the house down?The fire is so big that it can cook a cow!You think firewood doesn’t cost anything, don’t you?”
He couldn’t stand it if the maid made a few jokes while washing the clothes, and rushed up to her and scolded, “You quacking geese, if you’ve got a job to do, you just chat!Ouch, and you’re using new soap?That’s too wasteful!Do you want to take care of your hands or do you want to wash your clothes properly?I think you’re simply being lazy!”
When he finished speaking, he really kicked over the bucket of soapy water, and the whole kitchen was flooded with water, making a mess.
Once, he heard that someone was building a house in the neighborhood and immediately ran to see what was going on.He shook his head as he watched, muttering, “Look at the materials they’re using. It’s all that red sandstone that never dries out, and you’ll get sick sooner or later living in it.The bricks are also laid crookedly, the mortar actually has sand added to it, it should be crushed stone!When this house collapses and smashes into someone’s head, it’ll be a hoot.”
He sat for a while, and then felt unable to sit, hurriedly stood up, tied on his apron and said, “No, I have to go out and persuade them to be more conscientious!”So he ran over to the construction site and saw that the carpenters were building beams.
He started yelling again, “What is this?You haven’t even aligned the ink lines, so how can the beams be straight?The house will collapse soon if this goes on!”He snatched the axe from the carpenter’s hand and said, “Let me show you how to do it.”But just as he was about to do it, a cart pulling a load of dirt passed by.
He dropped the axe again and rushed over to the farmer driving the cart and yelled, “Are you out of your mind?How can you use such a small horse to pull such a heavy cart?This horse will surely be crushed to death!”
The farmer didn’t bother to pay any attention to him and continued his journey.The master cobbler returned to his small store in a huff.Just as he sat down, the apprentice handed him a shoe to look at.
As soon as he looked at it, he exploded, “What the hell is this?Didn’t I teach you not to cut the sole too wide?Who would buy this kind of shoe?There’s nothing left but the sole!How many times have I told you to do everything the way I want it done!”
The apprentice whispered, “Master, you are right, this shoe does have problems.But …… it wasn’t made by me, it was accidentally dropped under the table when you jumped up just now, I just picked it up.”
The master shoemaker froze in his tracks, his face instantly reddened and he could not speak.
That night he lay in bed, thinking about his day’s experience, and the more he thought about it, the angrier he became, and finally fell asleep in a daze.He had a strange dream that he had died and was on his way to heaven.
When he got to the door of heaven, he knocked hard on the door, muttering, “That’s strange, there’s not even a door knocker, it hurts my fingers.”
The door opened and St. Peter poked his head out to see who was in such a hurry to get in.
“Oh, it’s you, Master Shoemaker.”St. Peter said, “I’ll let you in, but you’ll have to promise me one thing – stop picking and choosing, this isn’t earthly, and if you talk out of turn, you might get into trouble.”
The master cobbler waved his hand and said, “Don’t worry, I know what’s in my heart.Heaven, surely everything is perfect, there won’t be any problems.”
After saying that, he walked into heaven and began to wander around.He looked around, frowning from time to time and muttering something under his breath.
Suddenly, he saw two angels carrying a log, but he noticed that they were carrying it horizontally instead of holding it vertically.He giggled inwardly and thought, “This is stupid!”But he held his tongue and didn’t say anything, just nodded, pretending to be satisfied, and said, “Well, as long as it suits them anyway, at least it didn’t knock anything over.”
Then he saw two more angels with buckets fetching water from the well, but he noticed that the bucket was leaking and the water kept flowing out.
He couldn’t help but think, “What’s going on?Are they playing with the water?”But he held his tongue, thinking, “Maybe this is just their form of entertainment.But since they’re in heaven, they shouldn’t really have to work.”
Continuing on, he saw another cart stuck in the mud.He said to the one next to him, “No wonder you’re stuck here, how did you load it?What’s on the cart?”
The man replied, “It’s good intentions.I tried to pull them onto the right road, but I couldn’t.It’s okay though, I did the best I could.”
At that moment, an angel came along and harnessed two horses to the cart.When the shoemaker took a look, he immediately shook his head, “How can two horses be enough?It would take at least four horses to pull it out.”
But before he could react, another angel brought two more horses, but this time they were put on the back of the cart!
At this, the cobbler master couldn’t help himself at all and cursed loudly, “You people are simply stupid!Who has ever seen a cart pulled like this?Do you guys think you’re smart?”
He was still rambling on when suddenly a resident of Paradise rushed over and covered his mouth with his hand, and then a powerful force pushed him out of the gates of Paradise.
He fell to the ground and looked back to see that the car had been pulled out by four winged horses.
Just then he woke up and realized he was still in bed.
He said to himself, “So heaven is really different from earth.There are a lot of things there that we may not quite understand, but maybe they make sense.Still, who can stand to see four horses pulling a cart back and forth together and not get angry?Also, isn’t it redundant to put wings on a horse?I’m so lucky I didn’t actually die, or I’d have to watch these weird things every day.”
Sure!The following is an in-depth analysis and summary of the Master Shoemaker story you provided, including “The Truth Behind the Story” and “What Does the Story Tell Us”.This part will continue the style of the previous rewrite, with easy-to-understand and colloquial language, suitable for Chinese beginners to understand.
6. The Truth Behind the Story
This story appears to be a fairy tale on the surface, about an eccentric, fault-finding master cobbler who has a dream that he has gone to heaven.But he ends up being cast out of heaven because he is too critical of others.
But in fact, there are many hidden truths about human nature and society behind this story.
First of all, the master cobbler was not a bad person, he was just a person with an extreme character.He was serious in his work and demanded a high level of detail, but he also became harsh as a result and always looked down on the way others did things.He is harsh with his apprentices, angry with his family, and tells strangers what to do, and these behaviors make him unpopular in real life.
Secondly, this story also reveals a common phenomenon in human society: Some people always think that they are right and everyone else is wrong .They like to criticize others and point out their mistakes, but seldom reflect on whether they have any problems.The master cobbler was such a person.
When he sleepwalked to heaven, he couldn’t help it, even though he promised St. Peter not to pick faults at first.When he saw that the angels lifted the wood in a different way, he muttered in his heart; when he saw that the angels used leaky buckets to fetch water, he felt that it was a waste; and when he saw that the carriage was set in the wrong direction, he could not help but curse.
This illustrates a very real problem: people’s habits are hard to change.Even when he goes to a completely new environment, such as heaven, he still looks at everything with his original eyes and still wants to measure others by his own standards.
And the most ironic point is that when the master cobbler woke up, he realized that those things that he felt were wrong actually had their reasons for existing.For example, the cart that got stuck in the mud did eventually get pulled out, and it was pulled out by four winged horses – which shows that heaven has its own rules that are beyond the comprehension of mere mortals.
So, from this perspective, the truth behind the story is that we cannot always judge others by our own standards, nor can we easily dismiss things that we do not understand.
7. What does the story tell us about ourselves?
Although this story is about a cobbler’s dream, it conveys a very realistic truth that applies to everyone’s life:
(1) Don’t be too picky, learn to be forgiving
The master cobbler’s biggest problem was that he was too picky.No matter who, do what, he can find fault.This kind of character makes him bump into walls everywhere in life, and even heaven does not welcome him.
We also encounter such people in our lives, and sometimes we may even become such people ourselves.So we have to remind ourselves: Don’t be too harsh, don’t always think of correcting others, and learn to accept different practices and viewpoints.
(2) Don’t think you are always right
The master cobbler always thinks he is the smartest and most experienced, so he always criticizes others.But in fact, there are times when he makes mistakes, such as the shoe that he broke, and in the end, he realized that it was his own problem.
This tells us: Everyone makes mistakes, so don’t always be self-righteous.Be more self-reflective and less accusatory.
(3) The World Doesn’t Work the Way You Think It Does
When the master cobbler arrived in heaven, he realized that everything there was different from earth.He couldn’t see, hear or understand, so he began to complain.As a result, he was cast out.
This is actually telling us: There are many things in the world over which we have no control, and there are also many things that we do not understand.But that doesn’t mean they are wrong.
Just like the leaking bucket in the story, the angel who carried the wood sideways, and the angel who put the horse on the back of the cart, maybe it seems wrong to us, but in their world, it makes sense.So we need to learn to respect differences and accept diversity.
(4) The first step to growth is to recognize and correct your own shortcomings
Although the master cobbler didn’t really end up in heaven, he woke up more or less enlightened.He said, “I’m so lucky, it’s a good thing I didn’t really die.”This shows that he had realized that if he hadn’t changed, he wouldn’t have been able to stay anywhere.
It’s also a reminder that if you want to live a better life, you have to change yourself first, instead of blaming others.
Summarize:
The story “The Master Shoemaker” is short but profound.It shows us the weaknesses in human nature through a small character with a paranoid personality, and it also teaches us how to get along with people and coexist with the world better.
The lessons we can learn are:
- Don’t always pick on others;
- Learn tolerance and understanding;
- Know how to be self-reflective;
- Accept the diversity of the world;
- Change yourself in order to change your life.
The next time before you want to criticize someone, ask yourself, “Am I like the master cobbler, who is too much of a fault-finder?”
