August 12
Imagination is the mistress of error. It paints things large and small as it pleases, makes the wise man tremble on a wide plank above the abyss, and quietly governs our judgement without our noticing it.
Pensées (freely rendered)
The Dried Persimmon
Imagination is the mistress of error. It paints things large and small as it pleases, makes the wise man tremble on a wide plank above the abyss, and quietly governs our judgement without our noticing it.
A hungry tiger crept through the snow to a house. Inside, a child was crying. Its mother warned it about the fox; it went on crying. She threatened it with a bear. Again it did no good.
The tiger listened. When the mother now even mentioned the tiger outside the window, the child still would not be quiet. The tiger was just about to leap inside when she said: Here, a persimmon.
At once the crying stopped.
The tiger had never heard of a persimmon. What kind of creature must it be, if even this child fell silent before it? He glanced hastily around, bounded off and ran up the mountain.
