趙人患鼠，乞貓于中山。中山人予之貓，貓善捕鼠及雞。月余，鼠盡而雞亦盡。其子患之，告其父曰：“盍去諸？”其父曰：“是非若所知也。吾之患在鼠，不在乎無雞。夫有鼠，則竊吾食，毀吾衣，穿吾垣墉，毀傷吾器用，吾將饑寒焉，不病于無雞乎？無雞者，弗食雞則已耳，去饑寒猶遠，若之何而去夫貓也！” 

A man from Zhao was afflicted with mice in his home, so he solicited a cat from someone in Zhongsan, and the latter gave him one. The cat was not only good at catching mice but also good at killing chickens. In a month or so, mice disappeared, and so did chickens. His son worried about what had happened and asked the father, "Why not get rid of the cat?" The father said, "You dont understand that our trouble came from the mice, not the loss of chickens, because those mice stole our food, gnawed our clothes, bored through our walls, and broke our cooking utensils. In a situation like that, we would soon suffer hunger and cold. Was that worse than we lost chickens? We could do without eating chickens, but that was far from suffering hunger and cold; therefore, why should I get rid of the cat?"