During the Spring and Autumn period, King Gong of Chu loved hunting, often racing across the wilds with his attendants on swift horses, bows and arrows in hand, chasing birds and beasts for sport. One day, after a long chase, he spotted a stray goat and ordered his men to give pursuit. The goat darted into a thicket, and the king, losing patience, drew his bow and shot an arrow—but it missed, striking a tree instead. As the king dismounted to retrieve his arrow, he noticed a strange, glowing fungus growing at the tree's base. His advisor, a wise old man named Qu Xia, stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, this is a rare 'spirit fungus' that only appears under a king of great virtue. It is a sign from heaven that your reign is blessed." The king, delighted, ordered the fungus to be carefully preserved and displayed in his palace. From then on, whenever he went hunting, he would tell his men, "Remember, even a missed shot can reveal a hidden treasure." This story reminds us that sometimes, what seems like a failure can lead to an unexpected blessing.
Once, King Gong of Chu was racing on horseback, chasing several wild beasts at breakneck speed. He had covered a great distance and was closing in, thrilled at the prospect of a kill. Reaching for his bow to take aim, he found it gone—lost somewhere along the way, jostled off during the furious ride. The king muttered to himself, "My bow is lost."
This is a beautifully crafted bow, and the attendants all felt it was a great pity. So, they ran to King Gong of Chu and pleaded, "Please let us turn back and search along the road!"
King Gong of Chu immediately stopped him, saying, "Don't bother looking. I am a man of Chu; if a man of Chu finds this bow, it remains in Chu hands. A man of Chu lost it, and a man of Chu will find it—why search any further?"
The attendants, hearing this, said in unison, "Your Majesty's words are truly reasonable." They then stopped looking for the bow.
This matter quickly spread, and Confucius heard about it. He said, "It's a pity that King Gong of Chu's words were not broad enough. He should have said: one person loses a bow, another finds it. Why must it be a Chu person?"
People who heard Confucius's words praised, saying, "Confucius's words truly reach the level of great impartiality." Later, the idiom "Chu's Bow, Chu's Gain" came to describe things that, though lost, benefit others; sometimes it also describes the impermanence of gain and loss, suggesting one need not dwell on it.
Source: *Garden of Stories*, Chapter "Ultimate Impartiality"
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "楚弓楚得" came to describe things that, though lost, benefit others; sometimes it also describes the impermanence of gain and loss, suggesting one need not dwell on it.