While wandering in the forest, a man suddenly encountered a hungry tiger. The tiger roared and pounced at him. He fled at top speed, but the tiger pursued relentlessly. He kept running until he was cornered at the edge of a cliff.
Standing on the brink, he thought: "Rather than being caught and devoured alive, I might as well jump into the abyss. There might still be a slim chance of survival."
He leaped and luckily caught on a plum tree growing at the edge of the cliff, its branches heavy with fruit.
Just as he was feeling relieved, he heard a massive roar from the depths of the cliff. Looking down, he saw a fierce lion staring up at him. The lion's voice sent shivers down his spine, but he reasoned: "A lion and a tiger are both beasts; being eaten by either is the same outcome."
Before he could fully relax, he heard another sound. Looking closely, he saw two mice gnawing vigorously at the trunk of the plum tree. Initially panicked, he soon calmed down, thinking: "Dying from falling after the tree is bitten through is better than being bitten by a lion."
Once his emotions settled, he noticed the plums were ripe and picked some to eat. He felt they were the most delicious plums he had ever tasted. He found a triangular branch to rest on and thought: "Since death is inevitable, I might as well sleep well before it comes." He then fell into a deep sleep against the tree.
Upon waking, he noticed the mice, the tiger, and the lion were all gone. He carefully climbed up the cliff along the branches and finally escaped the danger. It turned out that while he was asleep, the starving tiger could not bear the wait any longer, roared, and jumped off the cliff.
The mice, hearing the tiger's roar, fled in panic. The tiger that jumped down engaged in a fierce fight with the lion at the bottom of the cliff, and both retreated with injuries.
