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One day, a tiger went out looking for something to
eat. He found a mouse going in the same direction, so the tiger caught the mouse and
said to him, "you look very good to eat, but I am very sorry that you are so
small. If I eat you, you will not even be enough for one mouthful."
When he heard that from the tiger, the mouse was very
happy, and he asked the tiger, "Ha Nya Sua, I am a small animal. If you eat me,
I am not enough for you to get full. Please let me go."
The tiger thought and thought and finally, he said to the
mouse, "There are only two ways to handle you: one way is to eat you; the other is to
release you."
The mouse pleaded again with the tiger to please let him
go. The tiger thought and thought, and finally he let the mouse go.
The next day, the tiger went out again and had
very bad luck. He was caught in a prepared trap. Now, the mouse, who the tiger
caught the day before, passed by and saw the tiger caught in the big net, he asked,
"Tiger, what happened to you?"
The tiger looked up at the mouse and remembered that
it was the same mouse he had caught and released the day before. The tiger wanted to
ask the mouse to help him, but he thought to himself, "I am the big king of the
jungle. If I ask him for help, I will lose face. If I don't ask him to
help, I will die soon. I want to ask him to help me, but I may lose face having such
a little animal save my life. On the other hand, isn't it better to lose my face in
front of him than to die?" Finally, the tiger asked the mouse to please help
him out of his trouble.
The mouse hearing the tiger asking him for help
thought, "Before, he wanted to eat me, and he was in control, but now I am in
control. I don't want to eat the tiger; I want to help him now." So, the
small mouse showed mercy and kindness toward the tiger. He ran quickly to tell all
his friends to come and help cut the ropes of the big net holding the tiger.
So, the tiger was freed from the trap. He said first
to the mouse and then to all his friends, "Thank you. Thank you."
Finally, the mouse said to the tiger, "If you
had eaten me before, I would have hoped that no one would release you from the
trap." The tiger was very humble, and he said to the mouse that he would always
be grateful and never forget his help. |
