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Hanging from a cliff - A Zen Tale from Japan


There was once a man who was being chased by a tiger across a field. He ran and ran and ran to escape the ferocious tiger until suddenly...


… at the edge of the field, he bumped into a steep cliff. What could he do? There seemed nowhere to go from here but down. He had to make a hastily decision!


He noticed a vine hanging down from the cliff. In order to escape the jaws of the tiger, the man caught hold of the vine and swung himself over the edge. Dangling down, he saw, to his dismay, there were more tigers on the ground below him! And, furthermore, looking up again, he saw two little mice gnawing on the vine to which he clung. He knew that at any moment he would fall to certain death.


And that's when he noticed a wild strawberry growing on the cliff wall. It was bright, voluptuous and of the deepest red he had ever seen. Clutching the vine with one hand, he reached out for the wild berry with the other hand and plucked it. He then put it in his mouth.


Ohhh… He never before realized how sweet a strawberry could taste!

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