Once upon a time, a girl named Lilian got married and went to live with her husband and mother-in-law. In a very short time, Lilian found out that she couldn’t get along with her mother-in-law at all.
Their personalities were very different, and Lilian was angered by many of her mother-in-law’s habits. In addition, she criticized Lilian constantly.
Days passed days, weeks passed weeks. Lilian and her mother-in-law never stopped arguing and fighting. But what made the matter worse was that according to ancient Chinese tradition, Lilian had to bow to her mother-in-law and obey her every wish. All the anger and unhappiness in the house was causing the poor husband great distress.
Finally, Lilian could not stand her mother-in-law’s bad temper and dictatorship any longer and she decided to do something about it. Lilian went to see her father’s good friend, Mr. Tom who sold herbs. She told him the situation and asked him if he would give her some poison so that she could solve the problem once and for all.
Mr. Tom thought for a while and finally said, “Lilian I will help you to solve your problem but you must listen to me and obey what I tell you” Lilian agreed to do whatever Mr. Tom asked her to do. Mr. Tom went into the back room and returned in a few minutes.
He told Lilian. “You can’t use a quick-acting poison to get rid of your mother-in-law because that would cause some people to become suspicious. Therefore, I have given you a number of herbs that would slowly build up poison in her body” “Everyday, prepare a delicious meal and put a little of these herbs in her serving. Now in order to make sure that nobody suspects you when she dies, you must be careful to act very friendly towards her. Don’t argue with her, obey her and treat her like a queen”
Lilian was so happy. She thanked Mr. Tom and hurried home to start her plot of murdering her mother in law. Weeks went by, months went by, and every other day. Lilian served the specially treated food to her mother-in-law.
She remembered that Mr. Tom had said about avoiding suspicion, so she controlled her temper, obeyed her mother-in-law, and treated her like her own mother. After six months had passed, the whole household had changed. Lilian had practiced controlling her temper so much that she found out that she never got upset or mad. She hadn’t had an argument in six months with her mother-in-law, who now seemed much kinder and easier to get along with.
The mother-in-law attitude toward Lilian changed, and she began to love Lilian changed, and she began to love Lilian like her own daughter. She kept telling friends and relatives that Lilian was the best daughter-in-law one would ever find. Lilian and her mother-in-law were now treating each other like a real mother and daughter.
Lilian husband was very happy to see what was happening. One day, Lilian came to see Mr. Tom, “Please help me to stop the poison from killing my mother-in-law. She has changed into a very nice woman, and I loved her like my own mother” she explained. “I don’t want her to die because of the poison I gave her”.
Mr. Tom smiled and nodded his head. “Lilian, there is nothing to worry about. I never gave you any poison. The herbs I gave you were vitamins to improve her health. The only poison was in your mind and in your attitude towards her but all that had been washed away by the love which you showed her”
The bottom line is the way we treat others is the same way others will treat us, if we treat them nicely, they will be nice to us.
Days passed days, weeks passed weeks. Lilian and her mother-in-law never stopped arguing and fighting. But what made the matter worse was that according to ancient Chinese tradition, Lilian had to bow to her mother-in-law and obey her every wish. All the anger and unhappiness in the house was causing the poor husband great distress.
Finally, Lilian could not stand her mother-in-law’s bad temper and dictatorship any longer and she decided to do something about it. Lilian went to see her father’s good friend, Mr. Tom who sold herbs. She told him the situation and asked him if he would give her some poison so that she could solve the problem once and for all.
Mr. Tom thought for a while and finally said, “Lilian I will help you to solve your problem but you must listen to me and obey what I tell you” Lilian agreed to do whatever Mr. Tom asked her to do. Mr. Tom went into the back room and returned in a few minutes.
He told Lilian. “You can’t use a quick-acting poison to get rid of your mother-in-law because that would cause some people to become suspicious. Therefore, I have given you a number of herbs that would slowly build up poison in her body” “Everyday, prepare a delicious meal and put a little of these herbs in her serving. Now in order to make sure that nobody suspects you when she dies, you must be careful to act very friendly towards her. Don’t argue with her, obey her and treat her like a queen”
Lilian was so happy. She thanked Mr. Tom and hurried home to start her plot of murdering her mother in law. Weeks went by, months went by, and every other day. Lilian served the specially treated food to her mother-in-law.
She remembered that Mr. Tom had said about avoiding suspicion, so she controlled her temper, obeyed her mother-in-law, and treated her like her own mother. After six months had passed, the whole household had changed. Lilian had practiced controlling her temper so much that she found out that she never got upset or mad. She hadn’t had an argument in six months with her mother-in-law, who now seemed much kinder and easier to get along with.
The mother-in-law attitude toward Lilian changed, and she began to love Lilian changed, and she began to love Lilian like her own daughter. She kept telling friends and relatives that Lilian was the best daughter-in-law one would ever find. Lilian and her mother-in-law were now treating each other like a real mother and daughter.
Lilian husband was very happy to see what was happening. One day, Lilian came to see Mr. Tom, “Please help me to stop the poison from killing my mother-in-law. She has changed into a very nice woman, and I loved her like my own mother” she explained. “I don’t want her to die because of the poison I gave her”.
Mr. Tom smiled and nodded his head. “Lilian, there is nothing to worry about. I never gave you any poison. The herbs I gave you were vitamins to improve her health. The only poison was in your mind and in your attitude towards her but all that had been washed away by the love which you showed her”
The bottom line is the way we treat others is the same way others will treat us, if we treat them nicely, they will be nice to us.
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