A fable of the mystic, Sa’di

A man walking through the forest saw a fox that had lost its legs and wondered how it lived.  Then he saw a tiger come in with game in its mouth. The tiger had its fill and left the rest of the meat for the Fox.

The next day God fed the Fox by means of the same tiger. The man began to wonder at God’s greatness and said to himself, “I too shall just rest in the corner with full trust in the Lord and he will provide me with all I need.”

He did this many days but nothing happened, and he was almost at death’s door when he heard a voice say, “O you who are in the path of error, open your eyes to the truth! Follow the example of the tiger and to stop imitating the disabled Fox.”