Once upon a time there lived a man who, at the slightest provocation, would fly into anger. For many years, observing himself, he came to the conclusion that his whole life was full of insurmountable difficulties because of his temper. He began to think about how he could get rid of this trait. And then he heard about one dervish who supposedly has deep knowledge. He went to him for advice. Dervish told him:
- Follow such and such a road until you come to a crossroads, where you will see a withered tree. Stand under this tree and offer every passerby a drink.
The man did as he was told. Many days passed and people began to notice him; rumors spread everywhere that he had taken upon himself a vow of charity and was following a special course of self-control under the guidance of a perfect sage.
One day, a traveler, who was apparently in a hurry, turned his head away when the man offered him a drink of water, and hastily continued on his way. The hot-tempered man shouted after him:
- Wait, answer my greeting and drink the water that I offer to all travelers!
But he didn’t even turn around. He called out to him several more times, but received no response. Outraged by such discourtesy, the man immediately forgot about everything. He quickly took off his gun, which was hanging on a dry tree, took aim at the retreating brute and fired. The pedestrian fell to the ground dead, and at that same moment a miracle happened: the dry tree blossomed. The man struck down by the bullet turned out to be a hardened killer and was just on the way to committing the most terrible crime of his life.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru