古之君人，有以千金求千里馬者，三年不能得。涓人言於君曰：“請求之。”君遣之。三月得千里馬，馬已死，買其首五百金，反以報君。君大怒曰：“所求者生馬，安事死馬而捐五百金!”涓人對曰：“死馬且買之五百金，況生馬乎?天下必以王為能市馬，馬今至矣。”於是不能期年，千里之馬至者三。

Once upon a time there was a monarch who wanted to own himself a swift horse of prerigee and stamina for a dear price as much as a thousand langs of gold.  After three years, he had yet to get one.  A retinue volunteered to do the task and he was granted.  In three months, the retinue got the horse, but a dead one.  He bought the horse head with five hundred langs of gold and returned to the monarch.  Exasperated, the monarch raged his man, "I want a live horse, how dare you spend 500 langs to buy a dead one?"  The retinue replied, "If people know Your Majesty is willing to buy even a dead  horse with 500 langs, they would believe you are really a horse lover.  Before long, they would rush to make an audience with Your Majesty with real swift horses."  In just a year, the monarch got three swift horses of pediigree and stamina.