The Disappearance of 對牛彈琴

A Musical Mystery in the Eastern Village

Yesterday, while delivering goods to a customer, I saw an old man and a child sleeping amidst the music of a band in the bustling town square. It reminded me of a story my grandfather used to tell:

In a village in the Eastern Empire, there was a farmer named Ivan. He owned a very special cow named Bob. Bob was an intelligent cow and had a fondness for music.

One day, while Bob was grazing in the field, government officials suddenly arrived in the village. They claimed that they needed to collect data on cows for statistical purposes. To showcase their efficiency, they decided to assign numbers to the cows in the village.

When they reached Ivan’s farm, they asked him,“Where is your cow? We need to assign a number to it.”

Ivan was astonished and replied,“Where is my cow, Bob? He was here just a moment ago.”

The officials began searching for Bob everywhere but couldn’t find him. They started suspecting that Ivan was hiding something and conducted an investigation.

However, they searched the entire day and still couldn’t find Bob. Finally, they had to inform Ivan,“According to our records, your cow Bob has disappeared.”

Ivan was bewildered and couldn’t understand how Bob could have vanished. But he knew that things were not always as simple as they seemed in those times.

A few days later, Ivan attended a gathering of farmers. At the gathering, he met other farmers who were also puzzled and distressed by the disappearance of their cows.

Ivan and the other farmers began sharing their experiences and discovered that many cows with a love for music had mysteriously gone missing on different farms. The government officials couldn’t explain this phenomenon.

Slowly, people in the village who enjoyed music and playing instruments started vanishing as well. Since then, the entire village fell into silence, and even the chirping of birds disappeared.

Just this story for Hong Kong today