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Author
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Comment
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spot215
Registered User
(10/1/03 7:49 pm)
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The man who gave it all away
Hello,
I am trying to find a folk story I remember reading years ago. I can't remember what type of book it was in, although it might have been in a collection.
It was about a man who cheerfully gave away everything he had: all his clothing, his money, and possibly (if I remember correctly) even body parts to anyone who asked or was in need. At the end he was happy to have been able to help others, even though he had nothing left for himself. Sort of a god's fool, if that phrase even exists. The way I remember it the story ended with his head sitting in the middle of a clearing, alone, because he gave his body away, and yet he was still happy. I remember it felt like he was being taken advantage of by many who he helped.
I am at a loss as to what this story is called, and I'd love to be able to read it again to see if my memory is correct. Thanks to anyone who has any ideas.
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Jess
Unregistered User
(10/2/03 9:21 pm)
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This story is in Calvino's Italian Fairy Tales
I don't have mine handy to give you the title, but perhaps someone else can. I read it in August so I am sure it is there.
Jess
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denag
Registered User
(10/3/03 3:24 am)
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Re: The man who gave it all away
also, if you're interested in other stories that contain this kind of idea, you could check out a weird short story by Agatha Christie, called The Call of Wings (published in The Hound of Death), and another, less weird, by Eleanor Farjeon (forgot story name) published in The Little Bookroom.
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JoanneMerriam
Registered User
(10/6/03 2:34 pm)
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There's also a poem on this theme...
...except the narrator is unhappy at the end, and everything he gives away is to one person. I don't recall the poem or the author, but I read it in Steve Kowit's In The Palm Of Your Hand. It ends (after he's given this woman everything) with a line something like, "and you say, 'look at you, you're disgusting.'" I'm almost certain it opened one of the chapters. Sorry I can't be more specific; my copy of that book is in a box in another country.
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Sassisa
Registered User
(10/6/03 4:31 pm)
ezSupporter
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Re: There's also a poem on this theme...
spot are any of these titles the one you read? i am interested in reading it now too.. hehe
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Yukihada
Registered User
(10/7/03 11:03 pm)
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don't laugh now really
I have heard the story you're talking about but unfortunately not with any sources attached. But I will tell you that I did hear it on an anime episode. The series is called Fruits Basket and the one character Momiji is relating how others may see this one girl Tohru as silly because of her selfless giving but how he was actually touched. He relates how he heard the story in class and did not laugh at the man like the other children in his class did but was rather touched by how gladly the man gave away everything. So yes not an answer to your question perhaps but instead your post reminded me of that moment. I hope that you find it and share it with us all so that I can read it as well.
Or perhaps if you don't find it you can write a different version yourself and share that as well.
Yuki
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Quinnlove
Registered User
(10/27/03 12:28 pm)
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God's Fool
I know that one of my favorite authors, Laurie R King, (she writes the Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes books as well as other mysteries) wrote her senior thesis for a degree in religious studies on the holy fool, and has also written a book which places a holy fool or jester in modern California. I also find, by Googling, several references to "god's fool" as a character who gives it all away-- a few are to St Francis of Assisi and one is this (http://cslewis.drzeus.net/papers/godsfool.html) essay about C.S. Lewis. So the phrase certainly does exist, and if you find it useful for a story I'd love to hear about it; it keeps knocking about in my head.
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