Chapter 43: Seeing the Essence Through the Phenomenon

It was still a clear, sunny sky at noon, but by the afternoon, as class was about to end, the sky had begun to fill with dark clouds.

Manbao and Bai Shanbao leaned over the desk to take a look outside and both were a bit excited—the ants were moving their home, which really did predict rain.

Mr. Zhuang saw this too, and after class, he asked the students to stay in the classroom to wait for someone from home to come get them, then he took Manbao and Shanbao to the courtyard next to the one where he lived.

Bringing the two children to his study, he asked, "What did you see this morning? And what do you see now?"

Manbao said, "It's raining. Ants moving their home means it's going to rain."

Mr. Zhuang laughed and said, "Silly children, you've got the sequence reversed. It's not that ants moving their home causes rain, but rather the ants move their homes because they sense the rain coming. They move to a safe place, and when people see this, they know it's about to rain."