Week 6 Story: Luck’s Search for a Kind Man

Luck was favored by any man he met. He could help the poor become rich and the rich become poor. This made all men he encountered to do anything he wished. Everyone wanted to please Luck so that he would bless their household with good fortune.  

Luck began to notice that even though all man were kind to him. They did not show the same kindness to each other. He worried that he was bestowing good fortune of those that did not deserve it. Luck decided to disguise himself and see if he could find a, true kind man. He changed his appearance and changed his name to Behrooz, so that those in town would not know who he was.

Luck first went to the richest man in town. This man had always showed him the greatest kindness and gave Luck anything he wished. Disguised as Behrooz he asked the rich man if he could spare a room for lodging for the night. He told him, “I am not able to pay for lodging now but, in time I will be able to come back and pay you for your kindness.” But the rich man scolded him and told him, “Why would I give you free lodging? I do not know you, go find a foolish man to give you a place to stay.”

When Behrooz heard this he replied, “Have you never heard of being kind to unknown strangers, I have no money to offer now but I can offer my kind friendship.” To this the rich man laughed and told him, “I prefer friends that have their own wealth to offer, goodbye.” Behrooz left the rich man house and as he did he took his all of the good fortune he had bestowed on the rich man with him.

Behrooz spent all day trying to find a kind man who would give him a place to stay, even though he had nothing to offer. All of the merchants turned him down. Behrooz had settled on leaving the town, accepting that there was no such thing as a kind genuine man.  

A very poor shepherd saw Behrooz going to leave town and called out to him, “I heard you are looking for a place to stay. I stay out in the field with my small flock, it is not much but I keep a fire going and have some food I can share with you. It gets very lonely by myself, all I ask for is some company to talk with.”

Behrooz happily agreed and went to stay with the shepherd. With the help of Behrooz the shepherd’s flock began to grow and soon he was able to hire other men to help tend to his sheep. Both the shepherd and Behrooz enjoyed their friendship. Behrooz wanted to be sure that the newly rich shepherd had not turned into a greedy man. 

Behrooz went into town to find the once rich man. He now was destitute with no property. He had to beg around town so that he could get food for his family. Behrooz went up to him and told him that there was a very rich shepherd that could offer help to him but that he would have to work. The man agreed and followed Behrooz to the rich shepherd’s home. Behrooz took him in and then disappeared, leaving the poor man to ask the rich shepherd for help.

The rich shepherd asked the poor man what he was doing in his home. The poor man explained, “My family and I are in need of food. Please can I work for you?” The shepherd calmly replied, “I remember that you were once a rich man. And did not show any kindness to my friend who was in need of help. So why should I help you? However, when I was young I learned that you should always show kindness to others. So, bring your family here and I will help feed then and give them a place to stay in return for you working in the fields for me.” Excited and very grateful the poor man ran off to gather his family.

At that moment Behrooz reappeared. He went up to the rich shepherd and said, “My dear friend, you truly are a kind man and deserve every bit of good fortune I bestow upon you.” Confused the shepherd asked, “What do you mean, how can you bestow good fortune on me?” Behrooz then changed back into Luck and the shepherd understood.

A sign of luck, a four leaf clover. Source: Wikimedia Commons 

Author’s Notes: This story is based off of two tales from Persian Tales translated by D.R.L. Lorimer and E.O. Lorimer and illustrated by Hilda Roberts. In the tales of The Man Who Went to Wake his Luck and The Merchant and the Saffaron they talk about Luck as if it is an actual person. I really liked that Luck was a man who could make his own choices. I used this to create my own story. Luck is a man who feels like those who receive his luck are only kind to him because he helps them become rich. This makes Luck very sad and wondering if there are any good people in the world. This takes Luck on a search for a man who is kind to everyone. To pull this off Luck has to disguises himself. I choose to change Luck’s name to Behrooz because in Persian this name means “good fortune”. I wanted to show that even though so people can be greedy when they have money, there are still people who are kind to everyone. I hope you have enjoyed my story and would love to hear feedback and ideas!

 

Site where I found names meaning luck: Lucky Names