There was once an old lady who cried all the time. Her elder
daughter was married to an umbrella merchant while the younger daughter was the
wife of a noodle vendor. On sunny days, she worried, "Oh no! The weather
is so nice and sunny. No one is going to buy any umbrellas. What will happen if
the shop has to be closed?" These worries made her sad. She just could not
help but cry. When it rained, she would cry for the younger daughter. She
thought, "Oh no! My younger daughter is married to a noodle vendor. You
cannot dry noodles without the sun. Now there will be no noodles to sell. What
should we do?" As a result, the old lady lived in sorrow every day.
Whether sunny or rainy, she grieved for one of her daughters. Her neighbors
could not console her and jokingly called her "the crying lady."
One day, she met a monk. He was very curious as to why she
was always crying. She explained the problem to him. The monk smiled kindly and
said, "Madam! You need not worry. I will show you a way to happiness, and
you will need to grieve no more."
The crying lady was very excited. She immediately asked the
monk to show her what to do. The master replied, "It is very simple. You
just need to change your perspective. On sunny days, do not think of your elder
daughter not being able to sell umbrellas but the younger daughter being able
to dry her noodles. With such good strong sunlight, she must be able to make
plenty of noodles and her business must be very good. When it rains, think
about the umbrella store of the elder daughter. With the rain, everyone must be
buying umbrellas. She will sell a lot of umbrellas and her store will
prosper."
The old lady saw the light. She followed the monk’s
instruction. After a while, she did not cry anymore; instead, she was smiling
every day. From that day on she was known as "the smiling lady."
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