Good Luck to the Lucky One

In a certain town a wealthy Brahmin wished to build a large house fitting his riches. Soothsayers helped him choose the site. Careful to avoid Rahu-kala and other evil hours of the day, he spent ten years raising the mansion. Even the poor enter a new house with ceremony; this rich man, to please gods above and Brahmins on earth, spent freely, entered with music and drums, and spent nearly the whole day in rites and feast. Guests left at evening. Exhausted, he lay down to rest—and before sleep came a fearful voice overhead: “Shall I fall down? Shall I fall down?”

Certain a demon meant to pull the roof onto his head, he fled that very night back to his old house, as hastily as he had entered the new. People talked. Neighbours at the river ghats embellished the tale—one swore she saw a company of devils dancing round the middle pillar of the upper storey; another claimed unearthly lights. Fancy piled on fancy until the rich man locked the costly house and left it empty six months.

In that town also lived a beggar Brahmin with seven children, extreme poverty, and only a miserable hut whose roof began to fall as winter neared. Misery drove him to thoughts of suicide—not by his own hand, but by seeking the haunted house and perishing with his family at the demons’ hands. He told no one that plan. He spent most of every day begging from door to door for food and clothes. One day he went to the rich owner and said, “My lord, winter is coming and the roof of my hut has fallen in. If you allow it, let me spend the rainy days in your big house.”

Glad that someone wanted the place, the landlord answered, “Take free use of the whole house as long as you like; only light a lamp and live happily. I built it and am not destined to dwell there. Try your fortune.” He gave the key. The poor family moved in that day.

That night the same voice cried twice, “Shall I fall down?” Resolved to perish with wife and children sleeping near him, the beggar answered, “Fall down!” At once a golden river of mohurs and pagodas poured from the roof into the middle of the room. It fell and fell until he feared burial in coin. The wish to die left him. “Stop please!” The fall ceased. Delighted at the spirit’s good nature, he heaped the gold in one room, locked it, and kept the key. Wife and children woke during the fall and heard everything; he made them swear secrecy, and they kept faith. They rejoiced at fortune’s visit.

Dawn by dawn he changed a little gold into money for grain and clothes. Rumour spread that the beggar had found a treasure-trove in the landlord’s house. The wealthy man came and asked. Honourably the poor Brahmin told every bit of the mohur-fall. Thirst for gold made the owner wish to witness it and sleep in that room for the first time. About midnight: “Shall I fall down?” “Fall down,” said the poor man—and gold cascaded again. Horror: to the house-owner every coin looked like a crawling scorpion. The poor man heaped gold; the rich man saw only venomous legs. “Stop please,” said the poor man, and the fall stopped. “My lord, take this heap home for your use.”

The house-owner wept. “Most fortunate of mankind, my father often said fortune comes to the fortunate—only today I understand. I built the house and fled at ‘Shall I fall’; had I stayed, a torrent of scorpions would have sent me to the other world. I see your mohurs as scorpions; you have the gift to see them as gold. From this moment the house is yours. Convert what you will; I shall receive and bless you.” Fearing scorpions, he left the room.

The once-poor man kept all the fortune and soon ranked among the wealthiest of his time. Remembering he owed the house—and his whole turn of luck—to the landlord who lent the key, he shared half his wealth with him every year without fail.

Where this story comes from

This tale is from Tales of the Sun; or, Folklore of Southern India (London: W. H. Allen, 1890), collected by Mrs. Howard Kingscote with Pandit Natesa Sastri. In her preface Mrs. Kingscote says her servants first brought her tales from the old women of the bazaars, and that Sastri corrected them and added many of his own.

The story is told to explain the Tamil proverb Madrishtam ullavanukku kidaikkum, “to the fortunate, good fortune.” Sastri adds that his stepmother, who was born in a village in the Trichinopoly district, told it to him too. The beggar’s wish to die is kept but stated briefly.

Read the original: Kingscote and Natesa Sastri, Tales of the Sun, 1890 (Project Gutenberg #37002)

Reading guidance: Older teen and adult readers; a parent secretly intends to die with his wife and children in a supposedly deadly house. The magical reward must not be read as approval of that plan. Removed from child age categories.

A closer reading

The same question leads to flight in one household and acceptance in another, but the beggar’s answer is not ordinary bravery. He is in despair and has secretly decided to expose his family to death. The magical reward must not turn that intention into a recommended way of facing hardship.

Gold and scorpions also prevent a simple explanation that the owner merely lacked courage. The two men perceive different things, and the source leaves this difference to fortune rather than proving a moral defect in the frightened man. In fact, he lends the house freely before he knows it contains wealth.

The dependable human actions are the loan of shelter, the disclosure of the discovery and the later sharing of riches. Unlike the inexplicable shower of coins, those choices can be evaluated directly. The wife and children were never consulted about the dangerous plan, a gap the fortunate ending does not erase.

Try this with the story

Separate events into chance or magic, help freely given, and choices affecting other people. Place the house loan, secret death wish, falling coins and annual sharing in the appropriate groups. Explain which parts can reasonably support an ethical lesson.

Talk about it

• Why is the beggar’s answer different from an ordinary act of courage?
• What help does the landlord give before any gold appears?
• Does the story establish why one man sees scorpions?
• Whose consent is missing from the beggar’s plan?

Related stories

• The Three Deaf Men — another tale from this book told to explain a Tamil proverb, about deaf neighbours
• Light Makes Prosperity — a Tamil proverb story about what brings good fortune into a household
• The Brahmarakshas and the Hair — a miserly landlord and a powerful spirit in another South Indian tale from this book