A traveler once arrived in the countryside of Henan and saw a wooden yoke resting against a farmer’s cart. He had never laid eyes on such a thing. When a passerby told him its name, the traveler nodded. But a moment later he noticed a second yoke of a slightly different shape, and the same man called it by the same name. Something in him snapped. Convinced he was being mocked, the traveler raised his hand and struck the stranger, shouting that two different-looking things could not possibly share one name.

It is a small, almost comic scene. Yet this is one of those ancient Chinese wisdom stories that lingers, because we recognize the man. We have all met someone who would rather call an honest person a liar than accept a simple fact. And if we are honest, there are mornings when that stubborn traveler looks a little like us.

The story comes from the Han Feizi, a collection of essays and fables written more than 2,000 years ago. In just a few lines it holds up a mirror to human nature, and the reflection has not changed in all the centuries since. Here are three short parables from one remarkable Chinese thinker, and what they still reveal about why we resist the truth.

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