Favourite wise tale?

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Not sure if casual discussion is the right place.

Anyone know of any pearls of wisdom revealed through a short tale?

Perhaps something that was told in a homily?
 
Once upon a time there was an old farmer who had worked his crops for many years. One day his horse ran away. Upon hearing the news, his neighbors came to visit. “Such bad luck,” they said sympathetically.

“Maybe,” the farmer replied.

The next morning the horse returned, bringing with it three other wild horses. “How wonderful,” the neighbors exclaimed.

“Maybe,” replied the old man.

The following day, his son tried to ride one of the untamed horses, was thrown, and broke his leg. The neighbors again came to offer their sympathy on his misfortune.

“Maybe,” answered the farmer.

The day after, military officials came to the village to draft young men into the army. Seeing that the son’s leg was broken, they passed him by. The neighbors congratulated the farmer on how well things had turned out.

“Maybe,” said the farmer.
 
When I watched Snow White, I thought it was kind of ironic that the Queen was mad since she wasn’t the most beautiful, but then she made herself look ugly as a disguise. Maybe that counts.
 
That’s too deep @Start

How about something involving minions?

Actually I liked the story about the horses, it reminded me of a girl I once knew.
 
Here’s one, though it’s probably written somewhere and may be slightly different.

There’s a frog sitting on the river bank and along comes a scorpion. The scorpion says “hi frog, would you give me a lift over to the other side of the river?” The frog thinks about it, then says “no, you’d sting me.” The scorpion says “no why would I do that, if I sting you we’ll both drown.” The frog thinks about it, then says “ok as long as you promise not to sting me I’ll take you.” The scorpion agrees and off they go. Halfway across the scorpion stings the frog. The frog thinks about it quickly and says “ hey, you promised, now we’ll both drown, why did you do that?” The scorpion says “ I’m sorry, I just couldn’t help it.” Glug glug glug.

(And the moral is…shouldn’t you be doing something more important than reading this?)
 
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A man and his son were going to the market, with a donkey. At first, the man rode while his son walked beside them. But people scoffed and said, look at that man in the prime of his life riding, while he makes his son trudge along beside him.

So they switched places. And people scoffed, saying, youth these days! That boy rides while his father walks in the dirt of the road.

Then the man and his son both got on the donkey. And the people scoffed at them, and said, that poor donkey, overburdened with 2 people on its back. How could they treat it so?

So they both walked beside the donkey. But people scoffed and said, look at those fools, too stupid to even know what to do with a donkey!
 
This is one of my favorite short stories. Don’t take it super seriously. This is in the causal section after all. I’m not making some deep theological point. The overall point of the story is pantheistic/new age strictly speaking, but I think it shines a good light on how we should view others. It’s kind of an extended metaphor of the Golden rule:

http://www.galactanet.com/oneoff/theegg_mod.html

It has some interesting things to say about the soul. My favorite quote:
A human mind can only contain a tiny fraction of what you are. It’s like sticking your finger in a glass of water to see if it’s hot or cold. You put a tiny part of yourself into the vessel, and when you bring it back out, you’ve gained all the experiences it had.
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Don’t hate me I just think it’s thought-provoking. I don’t think it’s right at all.
 
Hey pal! didn’t your mum ever tell you not to put too much garlic in the tomato sauce?
 
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“Don’t hate me I just think it’s thought-provoking. I don’t think it’s right at all.”

It’s true, it provoked a thought…and now I must go to confession.

(Joking)
 
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So there I was in the sunshine teaching my grandmother to suck eggs, because she’d run out of boiled sweets, when suddenly a beautiful butterfly 🦋 landed on my hand. I was amazed as it slowly opened and shut its gorgeous delicate wings basking in the sun and delighted I began to tell it how it was a wonderful part of God’s creation, I told it of the trees and the birds of the sky, told it of the ocean and the fish, told it of the stars way up above but hidden by the daylight in the deep blue cloudless sky and then just as I was about to tell it how precious life is and how it shouldn’t waste one single second of any God given day…it died.

Grandma likes to tell people it died of boredom, I don’t think so, it was more likely my mouthwash.

The moral of the story? We should never make assumptions about why butterflies die.

(I don’t suppose anyone is that bothered but any time I tell a joke it’s a lie. If it’s true then I’ll say so. Thanks.)
 
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My favorite tail, an old one from orthodox Christians… here if goes, I will change the minor details to make it Catholic.

Long ago in 16th century Florence, a woman entered the Cathedral during Eucharistic adoration and looked around the Cathedral at it’s great wonders. She was dressed in immoral and immodest clothing. She was in rags, covered in gunk from the street, it was all she had. She didnt even wear a vail. She looked as if she’d never been there before. The priest approached her and told her to not to come to the church dressed so immodestly. She started crying as the priest shoo’d her away and out the door.

That night, the blessed virgin Mary came to the priest while he was in his private quarters and said, " I have been praying for that woman to come to God for 15 years, and because of your intolerance, she most likely will never step foot in a church again".
 
The one armed judo champion

A young boy of 10 loses his left arm in a horrific car accident. Afterward he struggled with depression and rarely left the house. His parents wanted to see him happy again and get him involved in something, so they signed him up for Judo lessons.

His sensei said he would teach this boy, but he would learn only one move and learn it perfectly. Many practice sessions went by working on this one move until it was mastered. Then his teacher signed him up for a tournament.

The boy thought this was strange because he only knew one move and he was had some trepidation in the matter. When it came time for his first round he met his opponent and won! The same went for his second, third and fourth rounds. He advanced out of the preliminary rounds against increasingly larger and more skilled opponents.

(Post 1 of 2)
 
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Eventually he had advanced to the final round. A small boy of ten was set to fight a grown man who had taken the championship several years running. The absurdity of it all overcame him and he wasn’t sure if he should do it, after all this was a champion and he only had one arm and only knew one move. Seeing he was clearly over-matched, several referees and tournament officials begged the sensei to withdraw his student, but he responded only, “No, he will fight.”

The final round began, stepping up against this beast of a man, it began to look like he would not only lose, he would be demolished. He endured, taking a beating and waiting for a chance to do the only thing he had been taught. When the window of opportunity came he took his chance and laid his opponent out flat on his back. He won the state Judo championship.

He was overjoyed but still confused. He asked his teacher, “How is that possible? These guys know hundreds of techniques. I only know one?”

His sensei explained, “There are 2 reasons you won this tournament. The first is that the move I taught you is one of the most difficult moves in all of Judo. It shows tremendous skill that you are able to perform it. And the second is that the only way to defend against that move is to hold you by the left arm.”
 
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