There Are Bandits Ahead

from the Sutra of the Hundred Parables

One day father and son were walking on a road. The father exclaimed nervously, “Oh, the worse is about to happen – there are bandits ahead.” Nervous that his son was about to be harmed by the bandits, he tried to remove his son’s golden earring. But to no avail. The bandits approached even closer. The father panicked and decided to chop off his son’s head. The father then sigh in relief. Soon the bandits left and the father tried desperately to reattach his son’s head….