Have you ever noticed that often, especially during the rainy season, there is a heron sitting on the back of a buffalo? And the buffalo does not resist this at all. Do you know why? Because the buffalo understands: now he can’t escape this long-legged white bird.
Listen to a story that happened once...
The buffalo and the heron were at odds. They never spoke to each other, although they were seen together everywhere: by the river, in the rice field or in the meadow. But they still didn't like each other.
But somehow the buffalo humbled his pride.
“Listen, heron,” he said, “so that we no longer sulk at each other and make peace, let’s compete.”
“Come on,” agreed the heron. - How?
- Let's go to the river. Come on, which of us will drink more water?
“But you’re so big, that means a lot more water will get into you,” the heron objected.
Then I thought about it and accepted the buffalo’s challenge.
They agreed to meet the next morning. We agreed so. The winner is not the one who drinks the most water. The winner is the one after whom there is less water in the river! And one more thing. He will have complete power over the loser forever. This is what the heron and buffalo decided. And the judges were a cow, a horse, a dog and birds. We decided and went home.
Only the heron did not fly home, but to the river. She sat down on a tree that grew on the bank and began to carefully monitor the water level in the river. The heron noticed that the high tide begins in the morning, and the low tide begins at noon.
The next day, as soon as the sun rose, animals and birds gathered on the river bank. Everyone was looking forward to the start of an interesting spectacle. The judges have arrived.
The first to volunteer to show what he was capable of was the buffalo. He looked around the crowd triumphantly and thought: “Now you’ll see how much water I’ll drink!”
He drank for a really long time. It even seemed to many that the buffalo was unlikely to ever stop.
But the buffalo nevertheless looked up from the water, raised its head and discovered with horror that there was no less water in the river! On the contrary, even more! After all, at first the water barely covered his hooves, but now it reaches half of his leg.
The buffalo began to drink again. He drank until he choked. He slowly collapsed onto his swollen belly and immediately fell asleep.
Meanwhile, the water in the river kept rising, the spectators even had to move away from the shore so as not to get their feet wet.
“Now it’s the heron’s turn to show its strength,” the judges announced.
“Let’s wait until the buffalo wakes up,” said the heron. - Let him see how I drink water! Otherwise, he won’t believe that I won according to the rules.
They began to wait. An hour passed, then two, three... Only four hours later did the buffalo wake up. Meanwhile, the heron noticed that the tide had begun to ebb in the river.
“W-well, now you’re very good, heron,” the buffalo said with difficulty.
The cunning bird lowered its long beak into the water, as if drinking it. She stood there in the river for a long time.
- Look! The river is getting shallow! Water is getting less and less! - shouted the animals and birds gathered on the shore. So the heron turned out to be the winner, and the buffalo the loser. And in front of numerous witnesses, the buffalo admitted defeat.
Since then, the heron has been riding on the back of a buffalo whenever she wants and as much as she wants!
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru