Nip The Evil In The Bud

Nip The Evil In The Bud

“ Nip the evil in the bud” is a famous proverb. It means that something wrong must be recited in the very beginning. If we do not control the evil in the beginning, we shall have to suffer in the long run. The truth of this proverb can be explained in the following story.

Once an Arab was travelling in a desert on his camel. He had not yet reached his destination when the night fell. He wanted someplace of shelter to spend the night, so he looked around far and wide. Unfortunately, there was no sign of habitation. Therefore, he had to fix up his own small tent that he carried with him for use in case of emergency. He tied the camel to one of the pegs and entered the tent to sleep.

The night was very cold. At midnight, the camel felt very cold. So he moved the flap and pushed his head inside. The Arab woke up. The camel appealed to him to allow him to put his head inside as he was feeling a chill. The Arab was a kind-hearted man so he agreed readily. After a short while, the camel again requested his master to allow him to put his neck inside. The master again agreed. Now the camel became bold and began to drag his whole body inside. The master took pity and kept quiet. After a little while, the Arab was astonished to see the camel pulling in his hind legs also. The tent was too small to accommodate both of them. The camel pushed his master out of the tent and had the whole tent to himself. So the Arab had to spend the rest of the night in the cold weather outside his tent. Had the Arab not allowed his camel for the first time, the camel would not have dared enter the tent. He could not nip the evil in the bud, so he had to suffer.

Moral: Nip the evil in the bud.