2 pieces from Zhuangzi — each retold in modern English and traced to its source.
The King of Wei sends Huizi a gift — seeds for a gourd that grows to an impossible size. It can't hold water, can't be a ladle, can't do anything a gourd is supposed to do. Huizi smashes it. Zhuangzi is unimpressed by the smashing.
A master carpenter walks past the most spectacular tree he has ever not-looked-at. His apprentice is mesmerized; his master is unmoved. That night, the tree visits the carpenter in a dream — and asks a question that cuts deeper than any adze: who, exactly, is the useless one here?