Synopsis

The animation short,The Pear, is adapted from a story of the same title from Strange Stories From A Chinese Studio by Pu Songlin. An aphorism by Lao-tzu, “Excessive hoarding always leads to heavy loss”, is what truly lies behind the story. A taoist priest felt thirsty and begged a countryman for one of the pears he was selling. The latter refused. Then the priest cast a spell, poured a pip into the soil, and finally turned it into a pear tree. All its fruits were given away to the crowd, when the priest asked for nothing and left the countryman astonished by the fact that all that had been given away were his own pears and the tree was made from the handles of his barrow.