Once upon a time, a donkey was tied to a tree when a demon came and untied it. The donkey ran into the fields and began destroying the crop. When the farmer’s wife spotted this, she shot and killed the donkey. The donkey’s owner was so upset that he shot the farmer’s wife.
When the farmer returned to see his wife dead, he stormed off and shot the donkey’s owner. The wife of the owner of the donkey asked her sons to avenge the death of their father and go and burn down the house of the farmer. The boys went late evening and gleefully carried out their mother’s orders, assuming that the farmer too would have been burnt alive along with the house.
Sadly for them, that wasn’t the case. When the farmer came back to see the charred remains of his house, he promptly went and shot the wife and the two sons of the donkey’s owner. Suddenly struck by remorse, the farmer asked the demon why all those terrible things had to happen. The demon replied, “Why? I did nothing at all, oh, except release the donkey. It was all of you who reacted, overacted, and released the inner devil.”
The moral of the story is that the devil doesn’t do anything but wake you up by triggering the ego in you that turns into evil intent and goes about harming others. The next time, before replying, responding, reporting, rebuking, or avenging a revenge, pause and think, be careful. Many times, the only thing the devil needs to do is simply release the donkey within us.
