The Besht's disciple, Rabbi Arye Leib of Polnoye, wanted to know the language of the animals and birds, thinking it would help him in his work as a preacher. Although his master, the Besht, was reluctant to reveal this to him, Rabbi Arye Leib had a deep craving for this secret wisdom and persisted in asking. Once, when he was traveling with the Besht in his coach, he had his chance to speak to him privately. Before he could even ask, the Besht said, "I know that you want to learn the secrets of the speech of animals and birds. I'll teach it to you now, so listen carefully. First, I'll tell you the introduction and general outline. As is known, the supernal Divine Chariot has four faces on its four sides: the face of an ox, the face of a lion, the face of an eagle, and the face of a human being. The highest is the human face and from it the divine life-force descends to all humans below on earth. From the ox's face Above, after descending in stages from world to world, from cause to effect, and after many contractions, the divine life-force flows down to the domestic animals here below. From the lion's face the life-force flows down to all the wild animals; likewise, from the eagle's face to the birds.

"That is the secret of the kabbalistic book Perek Shira, which describes the songs and speech of all the different animals, since according to the speech of each kind of animal in the Divine Chariot, its speech descends below, stage after stage, to beasts, animals, and birds. So a wise person, after being given general hints, can understand matters on his own and can look at the root and source of everything Above in the supernal chariot, and know all the details of the speech of beasts, animals, and birds."

After giving this general outline, the Baal Shem Tov fully expounded all the details and revealed to the preacher many awesome secrets, until Rabbi Arye Leib understood the subject clearly, to his complete satisfaction. Then, the Besht continued to explain to him, by the way, many related matters and countless kabbalistic sayings from the Zohar and Tikkunim. The preacher listened to him with one ear, but with the other ear he heard the speech of the horses that were drawing the coach and the speech of the birds flying nearby. The Besht continued explaining these secrets to him as they were traveling, until they approached their destination.

As they neared the city, the Besht said to him, "Have you understood everything I've been saying?" The preacher did not know what to answer, since he had been distracted by these mystic experiences. The Besht then passed his hand over the preacher's face and he immediately forgot all the details of the secrets he had been told. He remembered only the introduction and outline. The Baal Shem Tov laughed and said to him, "There are a rare few who need to know this knowledge. If you truly needed it to serve God, I would have taught it to you myself without your asking. I only taught it to you now to satisfy your craving. But because it isn't necessary for your divine service, you've forgotten it. Arye Leib, don't worry about mysteries, for the essence of divine service is: 'Be single-hearted with the Lord your God'!"