" the sparrow never lands where the tiger roams"

[ishakkazi]

I was watching a TV programme about martial arts where the presenter said

" the sparrow never lands where the tiger roams"

or something along those lines, and challenged the viewers to understand what it meant. Does anyone know who said this or what it means?

[ezapf]

     If I were a sparrow, I would never land where a tiger roams for fear of being eaten - even knowing that I could fly away.

     It refers to keeping out of trouble. To the martial artist it means: don't deliberately put yourself in a situation where you will need to use your martial arts skills.

[SteveD]

Sri Kumar has answered this above.

 

[SteveD]

But Sri Kumar's post seems to have disappeared now.

 

[stoo_pid]

don't worry ishakkazi, if you didn't get to see it, it was pretty much the same answer as ezapf's (only a bit longer)

[CiPHerTeach]

To understand this statement, you need to know the beggining of the story….

A student asked his martial arts master why some masters don’t teach all their secrets?
The masters said: “The cat taught the tiger how to fight, and the tiger became very strong. One day the tiger turned on the cat, so the cat ran up a tree – that is the one secret that the cat never taught to the tiger.”

The student asked how he could become undefeatable?
His master replies: “The sparrow never lands where the tiger roams.”