Carpenter Shih 3went to Chi and when he go to Crooked Shaft , he saw a serrate oak by the village shrine. It was several thousand oxen and measured a hundred spans around towering above the hills. The lowest branches were eighty feet from the ground, and a dozen made into boats. There were so many sightseers that the place looked like a fair, but the carpenter didn’t spare a glance around and went on his way without stopping. His apprentice stood staring for a long time and then he ran after Carpenter Shih and said, "Since I first took up my axe and followed you master , I have never seen timber as beautiful as this . But you didn’t even bother to look, and go right on without stopping. Why is that?"
“Forget it - say no more” said the carpenter. "It's a worthless tree !. Make boats out of it and they'd sink; make coffins and they’d rot in no time . Use it for doors and it would sweat sap like pine ; use it for posts and the worms would eat them up. It’s not a timber tree there’s nothing it can be used for. That’s how it got to bet that old!”.
After Carpenter Chih had returned home, the oak tree appeared to him in a dream and said, "What are you comparing me with?. Are you comparing me with those useful trees? The cherry apple , the pear , the orange , the citron, the rest of those fructiferous trees and shrubs - as soon as their fruit is ripe they are torn apart and subjected to abuse . Their big limbs are broken off , their little limbs are yanked around. Their utility makes life miserable for them , and so they don't get to finish out the years Heaven gave them, but are cut off in mid journey. They bring it on themselves -the pulling and tearing of the common mob .And it’s the same way with all other things.
As for me , I’ve been trying a long time to be of no use, and now that I’m about to die I’ve finaIly got it. This is of great use to me . If I had been of some use would I have ever grown this large? Moreover you and I are both of us things. What's the point of this--things condemning things? You, a worthless man about to die - how do you know I'm a worthless tree?"
When Carpenter Shih woke up, he reported his dream. His apprentice said, "If it's so intent on being of no use, what's it doing there at the village shrine?"
"Shhh! Say no more! It's only resting there. If we carp and criticize, it will merely conclude that we don't understand it. Even if it weren't at the shrine, do you suppose it would be cut down? It protects itself in a different way from ordinary people. If you try to judge it by conventional standards, you'll be way off!"

Tzu-ch'i of Nan-po was wandering around the Hill of Shang when he saw a huge tree there, different from all the rest. A thousand teams of horses could have taken shelter under it and its shade would have covered them all. Tzu-ch'í said, "What tree is this? It must certainly have some extraordinary usefulness!" But, looking up, he saw that the smaller limbs were gnarled and twisted, unfit for beams or rafters, and looking down, he saw that the trunk was pitted and rotten and could not be used for coffins. He licked one of the leaves and it blistered his mouth and made it sore. He sniffed the odor and it was enough to make a man drunk for three days. "It turns out to be a completely unusable tree," said Tzu-ch'i, "and so it has been able to grow this big. Aha!-it is this unusableness that the Holy Man makes use of !"
The Cinnamon can be eaten and so it gets cut down , the Laquer tree can be used and so it gets hacked apart. All men know the uses of the useful , but nobody knows the use of uselessness.
'` The shrine, or altar of the soil, was always situated in a grove of beautiful trees. So the oak was serving a purpose by lending an air of sanctity to the spot.“

The Emperor of the South Sea was called Shu , the Emperor of the North Sea was called Hu, and the emperor of the Central Region was called Hun-Tun. Shu and Hu came together from time to time in the territory of Hun-Tun , and Hun-Tun treated them very generously .
Shu and Hu discussed how they could repay his kindness. “All men” they said “have seven openings so they can see, hear, eat and breathe. But Hun-Tun alone doesn’t have any . Lets try boring him some. !”
Every day they bored another hole , and on the seventh day Hun-Tun died.