The peasant and the little bird

An extremely poor peasant was surviving by setting traps to capture small birds, of which he made his only daily meal. One day, being very disappointed for all his traps but one had proven empty, he found in the last one a particularly small bird. He started complaining as he grabbed the tiny bird: "poor me! There's hardly enough on this bird to feed a flee! If my traps keep being that unsuccessful, I will soon starve to death..." At the peasant's utter amazement, the tiny bird started to talk: "peasant, don't kill me. I'm skinny, I wouldn't make for even a quarter of a decent meal. But if you release me, I'll tell you three secrets that will make you the happiest man in the world". The peasant looked at the bird. He wasn't too keen on letting go of his only prey of the day, but the bird was so tiny he thought it might be worth the risk anyway. He said: "I will release you. But if you lied to me, I will kill you!" He let the bird go. The bird flew to a low branch on the nearest tree. He then adressed the peasant. "Here's my first secret: do not believe everything you're told". The peasant started to feel like he had done a mistake. "What? This isn't a secret! Of course I shouldn't believe everything I'm told! I know that already!" The bird flew to a slightly higher branch and adressed the peasant again: "here's my second secret: do not regret what you never had." The peasant started to get angry. "Of course I can't regret what I never had! If I have a cow and lose it, I will regret my cow; but how can I regret something I never possessed in the first place? That's plain common sense!" The bird flew to a higher branch of the tree. He was now out of reach of the peasant and adressed him for the third time. "Here's my third secret: in my head, there is a diamond the size of a fist. If you had killed me, you woud have become the richest man in the province. You were stupid enough to let me go; now live with it until you starve to death!" The peasant started weeping. "Alas, little bird! Your third secret makes me the most miserable man in the world! Had I not listened to you, I would now be rich and happy..." The bird adressed the peasant one more time: "don't be sad, peasant. You aren't the most miserable man in the world, only the most stupid. First, you believe everything you're told, even against plain common sense: how could a diamond the size of a fist fit in my head when my whole tiny body can fit in your palm? Second, you regret what you never had: not only the diamond you regret was never in your possession, it never even existed! Farewell, peasant. Be smarter next time." And the bird flew away until he disappeared. The peasant looked down in shame for a while, then got back to his poor hut. From this day, never again did he believe everything he was told, never again did he regret something he never had, and he became, indeed, the happiest man in the world.