At a crossroads in the countryside, there stood a temple
wherein was enshrined a statue of god carved in wood.
One day, a man was pursuing his way when he saw a ditch
before him. So he removed the statue from the temple and put it down lengthwise
to span the ditch. He stepped on it and crossed over. Then another man came
along. Unable to bear the sight of the statue lying in the ditch, he propped it
up and carrying it back to the temple restored it to its pedestal. Thereupon the
god accused of him of failing to burn incense and at once cursed him with a
splitting headache.
Bewildered, all the lectors of the Purgatory Judge asked
the god: "The man who trod on you had gone unpunished; yet the man who helped you up
has been cursed with a headache. Why?"
"Well," the god explained, "you ought to know that the kindhearted
people are the ones you can bully."