STORY TIME!!

Once upon a time, a young wife named Omoye was at her wit's end. Her husband had

always been a tender and loving soulmate

before he had left for the wars but, ever since

he returned home, he was cross, angry, and

unpredictable. She was almost afraid to live

with her own husband. Only in glancing

moments did she catch a shadow of the

husband she used to know and love.

When one ailment or another bothered people

in her village, they would often rush for a

cure to a hermit who lived deep in the

mountains. Not Omoye. She always prided

herself that she could heal her own troubles.

This time was different. She was

desperate.

As Omoye approached the hermit's hut, she

saw the door was open. The old man said

without turning around: "I hear you. What's

your problem?"

She explained the situation. His back still to

her, he said, "Ah yes, it's often that way when

soldiers return from the war. What do you

expect me to do about it?"

"Make me a potion!" cried the young wife. "Or

an amulet, a drink, whatever it takes to get

my husband back the way he used to be."

The old man turned around. "Young woman,

your request doesn't exactly fall into the

same category as a broken bone or ear

infection."

"I know", said she.

"It will take three days before I can even look

into it. Come back then."

Three days later, Omoye returned to the

d left,the

hermit's hut. "Omoye", he greeted her with a

smile, "I have good news. There is a portion

that will restore your husband to the way he

used to be, but you should know that it

requires an unusual ingredient. You must

bring me a whisker from a live tiger."

"What?" she gasped. "Such a thing is

impossible!"

"I cannot make the potion without it!" he

shouted, startling her. He turned his back.

"There is nothing more to say. As you can

see, I'm very busy."

That night Omoye tossed and turned. How

could she get a whisker from a live tiger?

The next day before dawn, she crept out of

the house with a bowl of rice covered with

meat sauce. She went to a cave on the

mountainside where a tiger was known to

live. She clicked her tongue very softly as she

crept up, her heart pounding, and carefully

set the bowl on the grass. Then, trying to

make as little noise as she could, she backed

away.

The next day before dawn, she took another

bowl of rice covered with meat sauce to the

cave. She approached the same spot, clicking

softly with her tongue. She saw that the bowl

was empty, replaced the empty one with a

fresh one, and again left, clicking softly and

trying not to break twigs or rustle leaves, or

do anything else to startle and unsettle the

wild beast.

So it went, day after day, for several months.

She never saw the tiger (thank goodness for

that! she thought) though she knew from

footprints on the ground that the tiger - and

not a smaller mountain creature - had been

eating her food. Then one day as she

approached, she noticed the tiger's head

poking out of its cave. Glancing downward,

she stepped very carefully to the same spot

and with as little noise as she could, set

down the fresh bowl and, her heart pounding,

picked up the one that was empty.

After a few weeks, she noticed the tiger would

come out of its cave as it heard her

footsteps, though it stayed a distance away

(again, thank goodness! she thought, though

she knew that someday, in order to get the

whisker, she'd have to come closer to it).

Another month went by. Then the tiger would

wait by the empty food bowl as it heard her

approaching. As she picked up the old bowl

and replaced it with a fresh one, she could

smell its scent, as it could surely smell hers.

"Actually", she thought, remembering its

almost kittenish look as she set down a fresh

bowl, "it is a rather friendly creature, when

you get to know it." The next time she visited,

she glanced up at the tiger briefly and

noticed what a lovely downturn of reddish fur

it had from over one of its eyebrows to the

next. Not a week later, the tiger allowed her

to gently rub its head, and it purred and

stretched like a house cat.

Then she knew the time had come. The next

morning, very early, she brought with her a

small knife. After she set down the fresh bowl

and the tiger allowed her to pet its head, she

said in a low voice: "Oh, my tiger, may I

please have just one of your whiskers?" While

petting the tiger with one hand, she held one

whisker at its base and, with the other hand,

in one quick stroke, she carved the whisker

off. She stood up, speaking softly her thanks

. At last her husband left for the rice fields. She ran to the

hermit's hut, clutching the precious whisker

in her fist. Bursting in, she cried to the

hermit: "I have it! I have the tiger's whisker!"

"You don't say?" he said, turning around.

"From a live tiger?"

"Yes!" she said.

"Tell me", said the hermit, interested. "How

did you do it?"

Omoye told the hermit how, for the last six

months, she had earned the trust of the

creature and it had finally permitted her to

cut off one of its whiskers. With pride she

handed him the whisker. The hermit examined

it, satisfied himself that it was indeed a

whisker from a live tiger, then flicked it into

the fire where it sizzled and burned in an

instant.

"Omoye", the hermit said softly, "you no

longer need the whisker. Tell me, is a man

more vicious than a tiger? If a dangerous

wild beast will respond to your gradual and

patient care, do you think a man will respond

any less willingly?"

Omoye stood speechless. Then she turned

and stepped down the trail, turning over in

her mind images of the tiger and of her

husband, back and forth. She knew what she

could do.

Moral: You can do anything if only you

believe in yourself.You dont need any magic

or spiritual fortification.