This story come from the article "Autumn Water" in The Works of Zhuangzi. Later the set phrase "Imitating another without success and losing what used to be one's own ability” is used to refer to acts of copying others mechanically in disregard of specific conditions.

Imitating Another without Success and Losing What Used to Be One's Own Ability

Translated by Smiling Angel

       It was said that two thousand years ago, there was such a boy in Souling of Yan, he lacked neither food nor clothing, in terms of appearance he was considered medium. However, he was void of confidence and often felt not as good as others without sake, he felt inferior to others too, like clothing, meal, standing and sitting. He learned whatever he observed. He caught not at a shadow but lost the substance albeit the innovations of styles. He not only can’t do well on one thing but also lost the sense of being himself.

       His family members tried to persuade him to overcome his shortcoming. But he reckoned they had concerned too much on his own business. His relatives and neighbors commented on him that he might learn nothing. Nevertheless, he turned a deaf ear to criticism. As time went by, he even had doubts that whether he should walk the way he did, the more he focused on his walking gestures, the more he realized clumsy and ungainly.

       One day, he encountered several people who were having a pleasant talk together on the road. He heard one of them said that people in Handan walked most graceful. Hearing this, he speeded up to them and wanted to make further inquiries. Unexpectedly, when these people saw him, they burst into laughter and walked off.

        He failed to visualize how graceful the walking gestures Handan people actually did and this had become his anxiety. Then one day he went to Handan that was far away to learn how to walk without telling his families.

       As soon as he reached Handan, he discovered that everything was fresh and simply dazzled. He learned from the children how to walk, because he thought their walking gestures were vivacious and endearing. He learned from the senior citizens how to walk, because he thought their walking gestures were steady. He learned from the women how to walk, because he thought their walking gestures were swinging. In this way, less than half a month, he had even forgotten how to walk himself, and had got through all his travelling expenses. So he had no choice but crawled back home.