THE LITTLE COW
A Brazilian friend of mine told me an old folktale called “The Little Cow.” Admittedly in today’s culture, the story comes off as a little shocking, but the moral of the story is still powerful. It went something like this.
A Master of Wisdom was walking through the countryside with his apprentice when they came to a small, disheveled hovel on a meager piece of farmland. “See this poor family,” said the master. “Go see if they will share with us their food.”
“But we have plenty,” said the apprentice.
“Just do as I say,” the master replied.
The obedient apprentice went to the home. The good farmer and his wife, surrounded by their seven children, came to the door. Their clothes were dirty and in tatters.
“Fair greetings,” said the apprentice. “My master and I are sojourners and want for food. I’ve come to see if you have any to share.”
The farmer said, “We have little, but what we have we will share.” He walked away, then returned with a small piece of cheese and a crust of bread. “I am sorry, but we don’t have much.”
The apprentice did not want to take their food but did as he had been instructed. “Thank you. Your sacrifice is great.”
“Life is difficult,” the farmer said, “but we get by. And in spite of our poverty, we do have one great blessing.”
“What blessing is that?” asked the apprentice.
“We have a little cow. She provides us milk and cheese, which we eat or sell in the marketplace. It is not much but she provides enough for us to live on.”
The apprentice went back to his master with the meager rations and reported what he had learned about the farmer’s plight. The Master of Wisdom said, “I am pleased to learn of their generosity, but I am greatly sorrowed by their circumstance. Before we leave this place, I have one more task for you.”
“Speak, master.”
“Return to the hovel and bring back their cow.” The apprentice did not know why, but he knew his master to be merciful and wise, so he did as he was told. When he returned with the cow, he said to his master, “I have done as you commanded. Now what is it that you would do with this cow?”
“See yonder cliffs? Take the cow to the highest crest and push her over.”
The apprentice was shocked. “Why would we do such a thing?”
“Just do as I say.”
The apprentice sorrowfully obeyed. When he had completed the task, the master and his apprentice went on their way.
Over the next years, the apprentice grew in mercy and wisdom. But every time he thought back on the visit to the poor farmer’s family, he felt a pang of guilt. One day he decided to go back to the farmer and apologize for what he had done. But when he arrived at the farm, the small hovel was gone. In its place was a large, fenced villa.
“Oh, no!” he cried. “The poor family who was here was driven out by my evil deed.” Determined to learn what had become of the family, he went to the villa and pounded on its great door. The door was answered by a servant. “I would like to speak to the master of the house,” he said.
“As you wish,” said the servant. A moment later the apprentice was greeted by a smiling, well-dressed man.
“How may I serve you?” the master asked.
“Pardon me, sir, but could you tell me what has become of the family who once lived on this land but is no more?”
“I do not know what you speak of,” the master replied. “My family has lived on this land for three generations.”
The apprentice looked at him quizzically. “Many years ago, I walked through this valley, where I met a farmer, his wife, and their seven children. But they were very poor and lived in a small hovel.”
“Oh,” the man said, smiling, “that was my family. But my children have all grown now and have their own estates.”
The apprentice was astonished. “But you are no longer poor. What happened?”
“God works in mysterious ways,” the man said. “We had this little cow that provided us with the barest of necessities—enough to survive but little more. We suffered but expected no more from life. Then, one day, our little cow wandered off and fell over a cliff. We knew we would be ruined without her, so we did everything we could to survive. Only then did we discover that we had greater power and abilities than we possibly imagined, gifts we never would have found as long as we relied on that cow. What a great blessing from heaven to have lost our little cow.”
In modern business vernacular that ancient concept has been translated to “good is the enemy of great.” Life requires that we let go of the rung we cling to in order to climb higher. But we humans are naturally averse to change, and rarely change seats unless the seats become too painful to bear. We must let go of the past to reach the future. We can spend our days bemoaning our losses, or we can grow from them. Ultimately the choice is ours. We can be victims of circumstance or masters of our own fate, but make no mistake: we cannot be both.