A long time ago, a girl named Li-Li got married and went to live with her
husband and mother-in-law. In a very short time, Li-Li found that she couldn’t
get along with her mother-in-law at all. Her personalities were very different,
and Li-Li was angered by many of her mother-in-law’s habits. In addition, she criticized
Li-Li constantly.
Days passed days, and weeks passed weeks. Li-Li and her mother-in-law never
stopped arguing and fighting. But what made the situation even worse was that,
according to ancient Chinese tradition, Li-Li had to bow to her mother-in-law
and obey her every wish. All the anger and unhappiness in the house was causing
the poor husband great distress.
Finally, Li-Li could not stand her mother-in-law’s bad temper and dictatorship
any longer, and she decided to do something about it. She went to see her
father’s good friend, Mr. Huang, who sold herbs. She told him the situation and
asked if he would give her some poison so that she could solve the problem once
and for all. Mr. Huang thought for awhile, and finally said, “Li-Li, I
will help you solve your problem, but you must listen to me and obey what I
tell you.” Li-Li said, “Yes, Mr. Huang, I will do whatever you tell
me to do.”
Mr. Huang went into the back room, and returned in a few minutes with a package
of herbs. He told Li-Li, “You can’t use a quick-acting poison to get rid
of your mother-in-law, because that would cause people to become suspicious.
Therefore, I have given you a number of herbs that will slowly build up poison
in her body. Every other day prepare some pork or chicken and put a little of
these herbs in her serving. Now, in order to make sure that nobody suspects you
when she dies, you must be very careful to act very friendly towards her. Don’t
argue with her, obey her every wish, and treat her like a queen.” Li-Li
was very happy. She thanked Mr. Huang and hurried home to start her plot of
murdering her mother-in-law.
Time flies ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Weeks went by, and months went by. Every other day, Li-Li served the specially
treated food to her mother-in-law. She remembered what Mr. Huang had said about
avoiding suspicion, so she controlled her temper, obeyed her mother-in-law, and
treated her like her own mother.
After six months had passed, the whole household had changed. Li-Li had
practiced controlling her temper so much that she found that she almost never
got upset or angry. She hadn’t had an argument in six months with her
mother-in-law, who now seemed much kinder and easier to get along with.
The mother-in-law’s attitude toward Li-Li had changed, and she began to love
Li-Li like her own daughter. She kept telling friends and relatives that Li-Li
was the best daughter-in-law one could ever find. Li-Li and her mother-in-law
were now treating each other like a real mother and
daughter. Li-Li’s husband was very happy to see what was happening.
One day, Li-Li came to see Mr. Huang and asked for his help again. She
said,”Dear Mr. Huang, please help
me to keep the poison from killing my mother-in-law. She has changed into such
a nice woman, and I love her like my own mother. I do not want her to die
because of the poison I gave her.” Mr. Huang smiled and nodded his head.
“Li-Li, there’s nothing to worry about. I never gave you any poison. The
herbs I gave you were nutrition to improve her health. The only poison was in
your mind and your attitude toward her, but that has been all washed away by
the love which you gave to her.”
The moral of the story:
How you treat others is exactly how they will treat you in return. Have you
done a kind deed today?
