Far off in the Himalayan Mountains there lived a holy man who wanted desperately to have a deeper understanding of life and its meaning. One summer it got so hot that all the nearby streams dried up and the holy man was forced to dig his own well.
During the course of his difficult labor, the holy man noticed that many animals were also suffering from lack of water and slowly, many of them were beginning to die. Feeling sincere compassion and empathy for these creatures he decided to build them their own trough.
The holy man spent hours and hours in the sweltering heat working on this trough for the animals. First he had to cut down a large tree and then scrape out the wood to make a basin. As soon as this was finished he began bringing buckets of water from his well to fill the trough. This effort took all of his time.
Slowly, the animals in the area became aware of the water and word spread quickly through the region. Birds, rabbits, mice, deer and even a tiger all came to share from the same trough made by this very generous man. As the animals spent more and more time at the through, they noticed that the holy man was losing weight and beginning to look ill. They also noticed he was weakening and that in his generosity towards them had greatly neglected his own needs and had not properly stocked food for the fast approaching winter.
The animals spoke among themselves and decided to repay his kindness by foraging for him and collecting all kinds of things for him to eat. All together the animals presented their gift to the holy man, who was so touched by the animals’ compassion towards him that he continued to fill their trough until the drought finally came to an end.
Although the drought did come to an end and the streams did refill, the holy man and the animals continued to remain friends.
