The Wily Tiger
Here is a story of a tricky tiger.
Once upon a time, a wily tiger was too old to catch his prey. But he was quite hungry and did not know what to do. He thought and thought, and got a nice idea:
He killed an elderly woman who was passing by, and kept her golden bangle after eating her.
The next day, he kept calling loudly, "Oh friends! Come and take this gold bangle. I've started doing tapas and want to donate all my worldly belongings!"
A traveler heard this call, so he approached the tiger and asked from a distance, "Where is the gold bangle?"
The old wily tiger showed the gold bangle in his paws. The traveler said he dared not come near him who used to be a man-eater......
Then the wily old tiger preached him a sermon as follows, "In my younger days I used to kill and eat human beings because I was not fortunate enough to listen to the Dharma. As I grew older and lost my wife and children. I really felt sorry for all the bad things that I did. Around that time I happened to meet with a noble Swamiji who taught me to live a virtuous life and to start doing only good things. Since then I have been living a strictly righteous life. You have nothing to be afraid of. I am harmless. See, I don't even have claws and fangs. I have resolved to give this gold bangle to someone as charity, and you are the lucky one. Go bathe in the lake and come accept my gift."
Believing these persuasive words, the traveler did what he was told. When he stepped into the lake he sank into the swamp. Saying that he would help him, the tiger came and killed the traveler and ate him up!
Moral of the story: There will be lots of people who will be preaching things - Don't listen to all of that - Believe only in what trustworthy people like your parents, teachers, etc. say and don't blindly listen to strangers!
Happy reading!
Uncle N
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