There is this fable which tells of a woman who despaired of her mother-in-law, a crotchety old battle-axe, with whom she shared her house.
Full of hate the daughter-in-law went to the local Witch and asked her for poison with which to kill her mother-in-law.
The Witch thought for a while and then produced an aromatic ointment.
“Massage this ointment into her skin everyday” she said, “and in three months she will be dead”.
Delighted the daughter-in-law went home with the potion.
Four weeks later she came running back to the Witch, pale and in tears.
“The antidote”, she sobbed, “I must have the antidote. I realised that I don’t want her to die.”
The Witch smiled; “you already have it’, she said. “The potion I gave you is harmless. By massaging your mother-in-law every day you have come to know her and to love her, and she has grown grateful to you. You cannot massage someone and continue to hate them.”
Hendrik
