Alberico Collina
"A woman begged the shaman for a potion to make her husband love her again. She explained that before her husband fought in the war, he was warm, loving, and he laughed easily. But since his return he was angry, distant, and humorless. The more she tried to hug her husband, tease him, and draw him back to her, the worse it became. The shaman was her last hope. He listened patiently to the woman’s story. When she was finished, he said, “I think I can help you. I will make you a love potion but you must go find one of the ingredients.” She said she would. Then he told her to get a whisker from a live tiger. She was distraught, ”How can I possibly get a whisker from a beast as fierce and powerful as a tiger?” The shaman shrugged and left her to her tears.
The next day she went to a place where she had once seen a tiger. On that day, she saw nothing more than monkeys fighting in the trees and birds flying. On the second day, she stayed a little longer and found a comfortable place to sit. But she did not see the tiger. Weeks passed. One morning she sensed the tiger’s presence before she saw him. She didn’t move, but the tiger saw her anyway and ran away. It was a week before she saw him again. Curious, the tiger stopped running away. Finally, after weeks of bringing the tiger good things to eat and ever so slowly reaching out to pet him, he finally was so comfortable with the woman that he fell asleep under her stroking hand. Once he was asleep she took a very sharp knife and gently cut one single whisker from the tiger’s muzzle.
The next day she brought this whisker to the shaman, and asked for the potion that would make her husband love her again. The shaman said “You do not need any potion. Throw away the whisker, keep the knowledge you have gained, and your husband will learn to love you once more.”
-Somali tale from Ethiopia (from The Story Factor by Annette Simmons)