116.The Falling Cloister Manager
A CLOISTER MANAGER in a grey, woollen cloak fell down from a cliff and was instantly caught by a tiger. The man begged to be spared his life. The sour tiger refused, saying,
“By design I am the enemy of fallen birds and things like that.”
The cloister manager convinced him that he was no winged one at all, his cloak was a thing to carry, not wings. So he was set free.
Shortly afterwards the cloister manager again fell from a cliff and was caught by another tiger. The man begged the tiger not to eat him. The tiger said that he had a special hostility to grey sheep. The cloister manager showed him that the wool did not grow on him, but could be taken off. So he was not really a grey sheep, he said, and the tiger let him go.
Thus the man escaped the jaws of death a second time.
❖ Many times it may be wise to refuse to give up. And many things may be good to look into in a likeable, relative light.
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