Before leaving home, he measured his foot with a piece of straw for size. After he arrived at the town and entered a shoeshop, he put his hand into his pocket only to find that in his haste he had left the measurement at home. Thereupon, he turned round andstarted for home. But when he rushed back to the shoeshop with the measurement, the shop had closed. As a result, he had busied himself for nothing.

Later, someone asked him:

In the State of Zheng, there was a man who wanted to go into town to buy a pair of new shoes.

"Were you buying shoes for yourself or for others?"

"For myself."

"Don't you have your feet on yourself? You need only to try on shoes with your feet to get the right size. Why did you go back home to fetch the measurement?"

The man of Zheng insisted:

Someone else asked him:

He answered:

"I would rather trust the measurement than my own feet."