Folk Tale Query

[Peter D Banos]

On Thu, 5 Dec 1996, Sarah Diamond wrote:

> Matter of some urgency: Does anyone know the specifics (or a book which 
> might contain the specifics) of the following story from Indian folklore?

> ...the story progresses this twist of "good luck" actually results in
>  much misfortune coming to him.
 
> The story goes back and fourth like this for a while...

Interesting. If I remember correctly (I read it about 30 years ago) Huston
Smith in "Religions of Man" gives something very similar as a _Taoist_
parable. A folkloric universal? Something that got into China from India
back in the good old days when everyone in the world learned the art of
storytelling from India?

						-Peter D. Banos
						pdb1 at columbia.edu

"Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and
Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia... in our own languages
we hear them speaking about God's deeds of power."