Confucius and the Sun

One day long ago, a wise teacher named Confucius traveled to a small village in China. While he ate lunch, he watched three children.

Two of the children were yelling and pushing each other as they came down the street.

“Hello, wise master,” said the third child, politely. “My friends are fighting. They can’t agree about something.”

“What are they arguing about?” Confucius asked the boy.

The first boy stopped shoving his friend.

“We’re fighting about the sun. I think the sun is closest to us in the morning. It’s as big as a house when it’s low in the sky.”

“But at noon,” the boy continued, “when the sun is high in the sky, it looks no bigger than my hand. That’s when it’s farther away.”