Li Yuan spent nearly half the night searching for birds, mimicking their calls in an attempt to tame them—but to no avail. 0

The reason was simple. Birds were scarce, and his attempts at communication fell flat. 0

In a normal spring, sparrows would be abundant, but in this year of famine, desperate people were out shooting and eating them, leaving hardly any for him to work with.2

As midnight passed, Li Yuan finally gave up and returned to his room to sleep in the embrace of his wives.0

The next day, he resumed his quest. After waiting for a long while, he finally spotted two sparrows fluttering in and settling on a branch. He began chirping his own little call while vigorously shaking a bowl of rice.0

“Come here and eat!”0

“Suspicious man! Dangerous!” one sparrow replied warily.2

“I’m not dangerous!”0

Yet the sparrows still responded, “Suspicious! Suspicious! Dangerous!”0

In truth, the fact that these sparrows were even engaging...0