The Perfectionist

(A traditional Sufi story, as retold in The Magic of Metaphor).

A perfectionist came across an injured hawk huddling for safety in a doorway. He picked it up and examined it.

"Oh dear, you poor thing," he exclaimed. "What sort of a bird are you? You're not quite right."

He took out a pair of scissors and removed the ugly curve in its upper beak so it sat neat and even on top of the lower one. Then he clipped and trimmed its swept-back wings so they were straight. Finally he took his nail clippers to the hawk's talons and cut them right back to the toes.

"There," he said, admiring his handiwork. "Now you look much more like a bird ought to look."