Be Careful While Telling the Truth

There is an old tale of Satan walking around in the street of life, sulking in the shadows with his hunting dogs, the little imps of human weakness. A man Ragu, came walking down the street and Satan spotted him. He told the imp to go and get him. Quickly, the imp crossed the street silently and lightly hopped on to the man’s shoulder. In his ear, he whispered, “You are discouraged!” The man replied, “No, I am not.”

Louder and more decidedly, the little imp repeated, “Yes, you are discouraged.” Ragu cropped his head and murmured, “Well, I suppose I am.” The little imp darted back to Satan and said proudly, “I’ve got him. He’s discouraged.”

Another man, Ramu passed and this time Satan spotted him and gave ditto instructions to the little imp. The proud demon of discouragement repeated his tactics. The first time he said to Ramu that he was discouraged, Ramu flatly refused to accept it. The second time too, the demon aggressively told him that he was discouraged. This time Ramu denied it even more emphatically. When the demon approached him for the third time, he said something to the demon. The demon got discouraged and came to Satan and informed him that he was discouraged himself.