새옹지마 [塞翁之馬 Sae-Ong-Ji-Ma: The horse owned by the man, 새옹]
This is the four character idiom(사자성어) which was originated from Chinese words. As I said, Korean language system such as the pronunciation and characters is completely different to Chinese language but Korean word's sources come from Chinese...So Japanese and Korean words have Chinese characters.
Korean people say that the life is 새옹지마. This means that in the life, there is the blessing in disguise, ups and downs.
One day the horse owned by 새옹 escaped and ran away. 새옹 lost his horse. Therefore neighbors came to him and worried together about the escaped horse. But 새옹 said that we don't know it will be good or bad.
A few days later, the horse came back home together with the other excellent horse. Therefore peoples came to him and said that it is congratulation for you to get the other excellent horse. But 새옹 said also that we don't know it will be good or bad.
At one day 새옹's son did ride this excellent horse. He did fall from the horse back ride and broke his ankle. So neighbors came to make condolences on his son's misfortun. But 새옹 said the same words that we don't know it will be good or bad.
After a few days later, the enemy attacked this country and the war began. So the government conscripted all young men around country. But 새옹's son could exempt the enlistment due to his broken ankle. Most of conscripted young men died in the war...
This story tells us that we don't know what will happen in the future..so we don't need to be disappointed or cheer out about what happens right now...
인생만사 새옹지마
