Beware of Hypocrites

One day, a fox was roaming the forest in search of food when, to his misfortune, he became trapped. In his desperate struggle to escape, he lost his tail. Feeling ashamed and embarrassed, the fox thought that all the other foxes would mock him for being tail-less. Deeply saddened, he even considered ending his life. But then, he reasoned with himself, “It would be cowardly to give up now. I must think of a better plan.”

After much thought, the fox devised a clever scheme. He decided to convince all the foxes to get rid of their tails, believing that if everyone lost their tails, they wouldn’t laugh at him. So, he called a meeting of all the foxes and said, “We should all get rid of our tails. They are heavy, ugly, and a burden to us. Let us live without them.”

As the fox spoke, most of the others listened intently. However, one clever fox, noticing the fox’s own tail-less state, raised a question. “Sir,” the fox said, “Would you have suggested this if you still had your tail? Isn’t it because you’ve lost yours that you’re telling us to do the same?”

The clever fox’s question exposed the true nature of the tail-less fox’s advice, and it became clear that his suggestion was rooted in hypocrisy.

Moral of the story: Hypocrisy seldom works. People can often see through self-serving advice, especially when it comes from those with ulterior motives.