Parable

A solitary traveler, a man, walked through a cold mountain landscape until night began to fall. He found a cave in the hillside and entered it. His eyes adjusted to the darkness and he saw a group of monkeys, huddled in the far reaches of the cave. They were shivering with cold, but they were also glaring at the man with obvious defensive rage. They began to howl and approached the man with bared teeth. They were there first and felt the cave was theirs, the man thought to himself. The man remained calm and took food from his travel bag. He extended the food to the monkeys and they grabbed it greedily. They fought among themselves and ate it all up very fast. They huddled again together in the back of the cave for warmth. They regarded the man with suspicion, but they no longer threatened him. The man was cold too. He gathered some kindling and branches from the area near the mouth of the cave. He did not want to travel any more in the cold and dark. So, he lit a fire near the mouth of the cave. He did this to respect the monkey group's space and to keep the smoke from filling the cave. The monkeys panicked because they did not understand that the man controlled the fire. They tried to drive the man off, but he brandished a blazing branch against them. They ran off into the cold night with howls of misery and anger. The man, accustomed to solitude, sat happily by the fire and wondered what would have happened if the monkeys had stayed.