Three In The Morning

There once lived an old man in the state of Song. He was very fond of monkeys and fed many of them behind his home. He could communicate with the monkeys and they could also understand him. 

The old man fed each monkey eight chestnuts every day, four at dawn and four at dusk. However, hard times came and was not enough food for both the monkeys and his family, so the old man was forced to decrease the amount of food he fed his monkeys from eight chestnuts each per day to seven.

He gathered the monkeys together and informed them: “We are short on food, so from now on, I will give you each three chestnuts in the morning and four chestnuts in the evening. I hope you can accept this.” Hearing this, the monkeys were upset. They screamed and howled and ran around. 

So the farmer said, "Ok, ok, how about this instead? from now on, I will give you each four chestnuts in the morning and three chestnuts in the evening.” Hearing this, the monkeys were appeased.