With the world in crisis with this coronavirus, we need to ask ourselves, how did we get here ? Contagion, pandemic, fear, grief, stress, suspicion, panic, differing opinions, anger,depression, anxiety and humans arguing with and hating each other, i thought of an Eastern tale which i thought is worth sharing :

It talks about a very rich and powerful magician who had a great number of sheep. However, as the magician was also very mean, he didn't want to employ shepherds nor erect a fence around the pasture the sheep were grazing in. Consequently, the sheep often wandered into the forest, fell into ravines and ran away knowing the magician wanted their flesh and skins.
Finally, the magician found a remedy. He hypnotized his sheep making them believe :
Firstly, that they were immortal and no harm was being done to them when they were being skinned, and on the contrary it would be good for them and even pleasant.
Secondly that he (the magician) was a good master who loved his flock so much he would do anything in the world for them.
Thirdly, he suggested that if anything was going to happen to them, it wasn't going to happen just then, at any rate not that day and therefore they had no need think about it.
Furthermore, the magician suggested to his sheep that they were not sheep at all, and to some that they were lions, to some that they were eagles, to some that they were men and to others that they were magicians.
After this all his concerns about the sheep came to an end. They never ran away again but quietly waited the time when the magician would require their flesh and skin.

Very interesting, the tale has some humor too. Nice read! But why didn't the magician among those animals name the Oxen?

On 2020-04-04 08:48:26 Kimmylee said:
Very interesting, the tale has some humor too. Nice read! But why didn't the magician among those animals name the Oxen?

Probably because they thought that "sheep" would cover the animal (and human kingdom).

Duplicate post

On 2020-04-04 08:48:26 Kimmylee said:
Very interesting, the tale has some humor too. Nice read! But why didn't the magician among those animals name the Oxen?

Sheep follow and oxen lead.

On 2020-04-04 08:59:33 Johnny English said:
On 2020-04-04 08:48:26 Kimmylee said: Very interesting, the tale has some humor too. Nice read! But why didn't the magician among those animals name the Oxen?

Probably because they thought that "sheep" would cover the animal (and human kingdom).

Interesting observation. Thank you

On 2020-04-04 09:01:16 Thor the Viking said:
On 2020-04-04 08:48:26 Kimmylee said: Very interesting, the tale has some humor too. Nice read! But why didn't the magician among those animals name the Oxen?

Sheep follow and oxen lead.

But without the Oxen in the equation there wouldn't be anything to lead. However the magician in my thinking in this case is the Ox, otherwise there wouldn't be a need for men. He is pulling out all horns trying to balance the wheel that turns which lies on top his head.

On 2020-04-04 09:01:16 Thor the Viking said:
...Sheep follow and oxen lead...

No sir!
An OX is an "altered" animal that is told/shown what to do!
You know ...like a man without balls...so to speak.

On 2020-04-04 09:18:40 semensquirter said:
On 2020-04-04 09:01:16 Thor the Viking said: ...Sheep follow and oxen lead...
No sir!
An OX is an "altered" animal that is told/shown what to do!
You know ...like a man without balls...so to speak.

That's why he is the magician.

Of late, we have different variants of the "sheep" species with the now popular "ostrich" range.