The Tiger and the piglets

A tiger prowled in the dense forests of Sunderbans looking for a game, hungry as he was for days. He came across a stream and decided to cool himself from the summer heat. As he was about to take a plunge, the tiger heard some squeals and grunts that seemed to be coming from some distance upstream. The tiger told his grumbling stomach, "We finally have some food here, be patient" and darted off in the direction of the sound.

Some distance upstream some piglets were playing, rolling themselves in a pile of muck and when they saw the tiger coming their way, they panicked and trembled with fear and stood rooted to the place. As the tiger neared his prey, all his insatiable hunger vanished in a puff. He grimaced at the very sight of piglets as it caused nausea, for the piglets were completely covered in muck. The tiger stopped in its tracks, took few steps back and sped in the direction of an antelope he had just spotted. The trembling piglets were taken by surprise by the tiger's sudden move but were very happy to be alive. The piglets went to their mother, Mrs.Swine and bragged that they frightened a tiger away. Their mother scorned at them and warned them to stay away from the tiger and added, "You fools it was not you the tiger was frightened of, the muck you are covered in saved your neck. Every time you go out into the jungle make sure you roll in the pile of muck." The piglets nodded in agreement.

Like Mrs.Swine one must always be on guard against possible adversaries and never mistake their passiveness for their weakness.

The tiger had hunted down the antelope and was ensconced under a huge tree. Soon he was joined by a vulture. The tiger looking at the forlorn face of the vulture asked him, "Whats the matter with you my friend ?". The vulture replied sorrowfully, "My mate died of swine flu, filthy swines killed her even being dead." The tiger chided the vulture, "Your species should learn to make some discretion while feeding off the carcass that are at your disposal. Even I had few piglets at my disposal this morning, it was disgusting to even look at them, forget about eating them. Luckily for today I found this antelope otherwise I would have preferred to go hungry rather than hunting those piglets down".

Like the tiger one should always be discrete in one's choices and not splurge on anything that is at one's disposal. Likewise one should also be discrete in engaging with an adversary or a bully. One need not pick fights with every other bully. Most of the time its not even worth it and it would most probably disturb your own mental peace. Had the tiger hunted down the piglets, he might have lost his peace of mind after hearing the news from the vulture. He was better off ignoring the piglets. So one should try to ignore bullies as long as possible for one's own sake and in case someone persists and gets to your nerves, read the story about the tiger and piglets that continues in my next post.