Nasrudin and a Dervish

Nasrudin was walking along a lonely road one moonlit night when he heard a snore
seemingly directly beneath his feet. Suddenly he experienced fear and was about to flee
when he tripped over a dervish lying in a pit which he had dug for himself, partly
underground.
"Who are you?" the Mulla stammered.
"I am a dervish, and this is my contemplation place."
Nasrudin replied, "You will have to let me share it. Your snoring frightened me out of my
wits, and I cannot continue any further this night."
"Take the other end of this blanket, then," said the dervish without much enthusiasm,
"and lie down here. Please be quiet, because I am keeping a vigil. It is a part of a
complicated series of exercises. Tomorrow I must change the pattern, and I cannot stand
any interruption."
Nasrudin fell asleep for a while. Then he woke up, very thirsty.
"I am thirsty," he told the dervish.
"Then go back down the road, where there is a stream."
"No,I am still afraid." replied Nasrudin.
"I shall go for you then," said the dervish. "After all, to provide water is a sacred
obligation in the East."

Samurai and a Zen

A Samurai and a Zen Master
A samurai, a very proud warrior, came to see a Zen Master one day. The samurai was
very famous, but looking at the beauty of the Master and the Grace of the moment, he
suddenly felt inferior.
He said to the Master, "Why am I feeling inferior? Just a moment ago everything was
okay. As I entered your court suddenly I felt inferior. I have never felt like that before. I
have faced death many times, and I have never felt any fear -- why am I now feeling
frightened?"
The Master said, "Wait. When everyone else has gone, I will answer. "
People continued the whole day to come and see the Master, and the samurai was getting
more and more tired waiting. By evening the room was empty, and the samurai said,
"Now, can you answer me?"
The Master said, "Come outside."
It was a full moon night, the moon was just rising on the horizen. And he said, "Look at
these trees. This tree is high in the sky and this small one beside it. They both have
existed beside my window for years, and there has never been any problem. The smaller
tree has never said to the big tree, 'Why do I feel inferior before you?' This tree is small,
and that tree is big -- why have I never heard a whisper of it?"
The samurai said, "Because they can't compare."
The Master replied, "Then you need not ask me. You know the answer."
Author Unknown
Found at: Parables, Stories from Around the World