Long, long ago, in a remote place called Qian, there were no donkeys. A merchant who had seen donkeys elsewhere wanted to import one. One day he bought a donkey a few hundred miles away and shipped it back to Qian. However, after he returned to Qian he found that he had no use for the beast, so he set it free in the wilderness.
A tiger prowling in the wilderness spotted the donkey. The sudden appearance of a strange beast in the territory puzzled the animal king. Deer and hogs were the biggest animals he had ever tackled, but this one was much bigger than anything he had seen before. He said to himself under his breath, “It must be a supernatural being that has landed here to prey on us.” Terrified at the thought, the tiger sped away without looking back.
The tiger stopped after scampering a few hundred yards. “Whom am I running from?” He asked himself. “I am the king of the wilderness, and being a king, I should fear nobody. I need to know for sure what that creature is before I show it respect.” So thinking, the tiger returned. He stalked toward the donkey with great caution. Then he hid behind a big tree and peeked around it. Seeing the beast doing nothing unusual, the tiger gained some confidence. He even began to feel the urge of his hunting instincts. He leaped out from behind the tree and crept toward the donkey. The strange beast seemed to have heard something stir, for it stiffened its long ears, blew its white nose, and stomped its black hooves on the grass. Startled, the tiger scurried away, uncertain what the don- key would do.
The next day the tiger went to look at the donkey again and was about to approach it when, all of a sudden, the donkey brayed, “Heehaw, heehaw, heehaw . . . .” The previously unheard bellow frightened the tiger out of his wits. He wished that his legs could be longer as he dashed into the thick- ness of the woods.
A few days passed. Curiosity took hold of the tiger once again. He went to watch the donkey, but there seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary about it. The strange animal was grazing peace- fully, swiveling its long ears and wagging its tail from time to time. The tiger became bold enough to move closer. He tried teasing the donkey, but the donkey responded merely with a few brays and kicks. The tiger leaped back a few yards to dodge the attack. Eager to know what else the donkey could do, the tiger decided not to run. Instead, he tried provoking it a second time. Again, the don- key responded with the same braying and kicking.
“Hah, hah! That’s all the donkey can do!” the tiger chuckled. With that happy realization, he pounced on the donkey and ate it up.
This story indicates that revealing weakness too early can have dire consequences
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