The Tiger and the Fox

Stimulus

Adapted from: Spiritual Story by Massud Farzan

There was once a man who lived on the edge of a forest near a river. Every morning he saw a fox lying down by the river bank. The fox never got up and walked anywhere. How did it get food, the man wondered… why didn’t it just starve?

Then one day, he had only walked a few minutes from his home when he saw a tiger. He quickly hid in the bushes and peered out. It was then that he saw a very strange thing. The tiger trotted past and dropped some meat in front of the fox to eat. The fox gobbled it down and rolled over onto its side to sleep.

So the next day the man went back to watch again. And again he saw the tiger do the exact same thing. How amazing, he thought. This fox just rests all day and its food is brought by the tiger. So I see that God provides, just as it says in my Holy Book. I don't need to go out and look for my food. I should just keep still and wait, and God will find a way to bring it to me.

So that's what he did. He stayed at home and waited for God to find a way to bring him all the food he needed. But no tiger came with meat. And no other animal or person appeared either. But the man had a lot of faith: he really believed in God, and what the holy book says about God.

But as the days went by he got more and more hungry. He started to get thinner and thinner. He was starving. Eventually, when he was almost a skeleton, he stood up and tried to walk to get food. But he had only got as far as the river when the saw the fox, lying down as always, but eating its fill of meat. Angrily, the called out: 'I had so much faith in God, but God brought me nothing. How can I believe what it says in the Holy Book now?'

And at that moment he heard a voice. It was deep and loud and seemed to come out of the ground. And it was angry too:

"O you, who have mistaken the way, see now the Truth! You should have copied that strong tiger instead of copying the disabled fox."

Task Questions

• If the man had copied the tiger what would he have done?
• Do you agree the man should have copied the tiger and not the fox? Why?

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