November 10. Story of the Day: The Kitul Seeds

From Village Folk-Tales of Ceylon by H. Parker, volume 1, 26. You can read about Kitul (Kithul) plants at Wikipedia.

This is ATU 1430 Air Castles.

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THE KITUL SEEDS

A certain  man and his son, who was a grown-up youth, were walking along a path one day, when they came to a place where many seeds had fallen from a Kitul Palm tree.

(Kitul Palm)

The man drew his son's attention to them, and said, "We must gather these Kitul seeds, and plant them. When the plants from them grow up we shall have a large number of Kitul trees, from which we will take the toddy (juice), and make jaggery (a kind of brown sugar). By selling this we shall make money, which we will save till we shall have enough to buy a nice pony."

"Yes," said the boy, " and I will jump on his back like this, and ride him," and as he said it he gave a bound.

"What!" said the father, " would you break my pony's back like that!" and so saying, he gave him a blow on the side of the head which knocked him down senseless.


NOTES

E. G. Goonewardene, Esquite. North-western Province.

There is another story of this type in the tale No. 53, below.

In the Jataka story No. 4 (vol. i, p. 19), there is a tale of a young man who acquired a fortune and became Lord Treasurer by means of a dead mouse which he picked up and sold for a farthing, subsequently increasing his money by careful investments.

In the Katha Sarit Sagara, vol. i, p. 33, a nearly identical mouse story is given.

In Indian Fairy Tales (Stokes), p. 31, there is a different one. A man who was to receive four pice for carrying a jar of ghi, settled that he would buy a hen with the money, sell her eggs, get a goat, and then a cow, the milk of which he would sell. Afterwards he would marry a wife, and when they had children he would refuse some cooked rice which they would offer him. At this point he shook his head as he refused it, and the jar fell and was broken.

In Indian Nights' Entertainment (Swynnerton), p. 23, a man who was carrying a jar of butter on his head, and who expected to get three halfpence for the job, was going to buy a hen, then a sheep, a cow, a milch buffalo, and a mare, and then to get married. As he patted his future children on the head the pot fell and was broken.

In The Arabian Nights (Lady Burton's ed., i, p. 296) there is a well-known variant in which the fortune was to be made out of a tray of glass-ware.

October 23. Story of the Day: Vessel of Butter

This story comes from Indian Nights by Charles Swynnerton. This is just one incident in "The Story of Lull, The Idiot."

This is an example of ATU 1430 Air Castles.

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THE VESSEL OF BUTTER

Lull was loitering about the street, when a passing soldier laid hold of his arm and said, ' Here, lad, carry this vessel of butter for me, and if you are smart I'll give you three halfpence.'

This quite delighted Lull, who was as strong as a horse, and taking up the vessel, with an 'All right, I'll carry it,' he swung it on to his shoulders.

The vessel was a large jar of earthenware, and the butter was in a liquid state, like oil. As Lull strode along the road, followed by the soldier, his busy brain began to build up castles in the air.

'How lucky am I!' said he to himself:

This fellow is going to give me three ha'pence, and what shall I do with it? I know. I'll go into the market and buy a hen with it, and I'll take it home and feed it; and the hen will lay eggs, and I shall have a fine brood of chickens.

(chickens in India)

And I'll sell them all for what they will fetch, and when I have sold them I'll buy a sheep.

After a bit the sheep will have young ones, and when I have also sold them, I'll buy a cow.

And when my cow has young ones I'll buy a milch buffalo; and when my milch buffalo has young ones, I'll sell her and I'll buy a mare to ride on.

And when I am riding my mare the people will all stare at me, and say, " Oh, Lull! Lull!" and the girls will nudge each other, and say, " Look at Lull on his beautiful mare!"

And when I have a mare of my own, I shall not be long making a match with some fine girl with a pot of money; and I'll get married, and I shall have four or five nice little children.

And when my children look up to me and cry, "Papa, papa !" I'll say to one, " O you little dear!" and to another, " O you little darling!"

And with my hand I'll pat them on the head, one by one, just like this...

Suiting the action to the word, Lull, in total oblivion of the jar of butter, lowered his hand, and made several passes in the air as if patting his children's heads; but as he did so, down fell the unlucky jar, which was broken into a thousand pieces, and all the precious butter ran about the street.

October 6. Story of the Day: Jar of Ghee

This story comes from Indian Fairy Tales by Maive Stokes. This incident is part of a longer story called "The Story of Foolish Sachuli."

It is an example of ATU 1430 Air Castles.

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JAR OF GHEE

A sepoy came by with a large jar of ghee on his head. “How heavy this jar is,” said the sepoy. “Is there no cooly that will come and carry my ghee home for me? I would give him four pice for his trouble.”

Up jumped Sachúlí. “I’ll carry it for you,” said he.

So Sachúlí put the jar on his head, and he went on, with the sepoy following.

“Now,” said Sachúlí, “with these four pice I will buy a hen, and I will sell the hen and her eggs, and with the money I get for them I will buy a goat; and then I will sell the goat and her milk and her hide and buy a cow, and I will sell her milk; and then I will marry a wife, and then I shall have some children, and they will say to me, ‘Father, will you have some rice?’ and I will say, ‘No, I won’t have any rice.’” And as he said, “No, I won’t have any rice,” he shook his head, and down came the jar of ghee, and the jar was smashed, and the ghee spilled.

“Oh, dear! what have you done?” cried the sepoy.

“Why did you shake your head?”

“Because my children asked me to have some rice, and I did not want any, so I shook my head,” said Sachúlí.

“Oh,” said the sepoy, “he is an utter idiot.”

(sepoy)

NOTES

Foolish Sachúlí lives in many lands. In his Russian dress he figures in “The Fool and the Birch-tree,” Ralston’s Russian Folk Tales, p. 52. In the Sicilian “Giufá” we find him again (Gonzenbach’s Sicilianische Maerchen, vol. I. p. 249). In England he appears in an out-of-the-way village in the south (see Pall Mall Budget, July 12, 1878, p. 11, Wild Life in a Southern Country, No. XIV.) with, to use his mother’s words, “no more sense than God had given him.” She wishing to have his testimony discredited when he bears witness against her, as she knows he will, goes upstairs and rains raisins on [258]him from the window. So when asked to specify the time he speaks of, he says, “When it rained raisins,” and is of course disbelieved.

Note by Mr. J. F. Campbell: “This story of a stupid boy has a parallel in a Gaelic tale in my collection, where the boy dated an event which was true by a fall of pancakes or something of the kind which was not true, and was not believed though he told the truth.” [At p. 385, vol. II. of the Tales of the West Highlands a “half booby” is inveigled by his mother into dating his theft of some planks by a “shower of milk-porridge.”]

July 31. Story of the Day: Sheikh Chilli

This story comes from the book Simla Village, or, Folk Tales from the Himalayas by Alice Elizabeth Dracott with illustrations by Hallam Murray. You can find out more about Sheikh Chilli at Wikipedia.

This is an example of ATU 1430 Air Castles. I like the coda at the end of the story; often this folktale type ends with the "smash," but this version has a humorous follow-up after the disaster.

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SHEIKH CHILLI

(illustration by Hallam Murray)

The hero of this story was one day walking along with a vessel of oil upon his head. As he walked he kept thinking of the future:

I will sell the oil, and with the money I shall buy a goat, and then I shall sell the kids, and then I shall buy a cow, and sell the milk, till I get a large sum of money.

Then I shall buy a pair of buffaloes, and a field, and plough the field, and gain more money, and build myself a house, and marry a wife, and have many sons and daughters.

And when my wife comes to call me to dinner, I'll say: Dhur, away! I'll come when I think fit!

... and with that he held up his head suddenly, and away fell the chattie [clay pot] with the oil, and it was all spilt.

This upset Sheikh Chilli so much that he began to yell: "I have lost my goats, I have lost my cows, I have lost my buffaloes, and my house, and my wife and children."

That such dire calamity should befall a man caused great pity, so the bystanders took Sheikh Chilli to the Rajah, who asked him how it had all happened. When he heard the story he laughed, and said: "This boy has a good heart, let him be given a reward to compensate him for the loss of his oil."

July 11. Story of the Day: The Barber's Fifth Brother

This episode comes from the Arabian Nights as rendered by Isabel, Lady Burton, wife of Sir Richard Burton. You can read more about Lady Burton at Wikipedia.

This is the most elaborate example that I know of ATU 1430 Air Castles in which the daydreamer imagines a chain of events, one leading to another, ever up the social ladder... until reality intrudes again at the end.

In addition to this very detailed account of the brother's daydreaming, the story goes on to narrate the brother's further adventures; you can read that online at Internet Archive.

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THE BARBER'S TALE OF HIS FIFTH BROTHER

My fifth brother Al-Nashshar, the Babbler, the same who was cropped of both ears, O Commander of the Faithful, was an asker wont to beg of folk by night and live on their alms by day. Now when our father, who was an old man well stricken in years, sickened and died, he left us seven hundred dirhams whereof each son took his hundred; but, as my fifth brother received his portion, he was perplexed and knew not what to do with it. While in this uncertainty he bethought him to lay it out on glassware of all sorts and turn an honest penny on its price. So he bought an hundred dirhams worth of verroterie and, putting it into a big tray, sat down to sell it on a bench at the foot of a wall against which he leant back. As he sat with the tray before him he fell to musing and said to himself:

Know, O my good Self, that the head of my wealth, my principal invested in this glassware, is an hundred dirhams.

I will assuredly sell it for two hundred, with which I will forthright buy other glass and make by it four hundred; nor will I cease to sell and buy on this wise, till I have gotten four thousand and soon find myself the master of much money.

With these coins I will purchase merchandise and jewels and attars (perfumes), and gain great profit on them; till, Allah willing, I will make my capital a hundred thousand dirhams.

Then I will purchase a fine house with white slaves [from the Caucasus] and eunuchs and horses; and I will eat and drink and disport myself; nor will I leave a singing man or a singing woman in the city, but I will summon them to my palace and make them perform before me.

All this he counted over in his mind, while the tray of glassware, worth an hundred dirhams, stood on the bench before him; and, after looking at it, he continued:

And when, Inshallah! my capital shall have become one hundred thousand dinars, I will send out marriage brokeresses to require for me in wedlock the daughters of Kings and Wazirs.

And I will demand to wife the eldest daughter of the Prime Minister; for it hath reached me that she is perfect in beauty and prime in loveliness and rare in accomplishments.

I will give a marriage-settlement of one thousand dinars; and, if her father consent, well: but if not I will take her by force from under his very nose.

When she is safely homed in my house, I will buy ten little eunuchs and for myself a robe of the robes of Kings and Sultans; and get me a saddle of gold and a bridle set thick with gems of price.

Then I will mount with the Mamelukes preceding me and surrounding me, and I will make the round of the city, whilst the folk salute me and bless me; after which I will repair to the Wazir (he that is father of the girl), with armed white slaves before and behind me and on my right and on my left.

When he sees me, the Wazir stands up, and seating me in his own place sits down much below me; for that I am to be his son-in-law.

Now I have with me two eunuchs carrying purses, each containing a thousand dinars ; and of these I deliver to him the thousand, his daughter's marriage-settle- ment, and make him a free gift of the other thousand, that he may have reason to know my generosity and liberality and my greatness of spirit and the littleness of the world in my eyes.

And for ten words he addresses to me I answer him two.

Then back I go to my house, and if one come to me on the bride's part, I make him a present of money and throw on him a dress of honour; but if he bring me a gift, I give it back to him and refuse to accept it, they may learn what a proud spirit is mine which never condescends to derogate. Thus I establish my rank and status.

When this is done I appoint her wedding night and adorn my house showily! gloriously!

And as the time for parading the bride is come, I don my finest dress and sit down on a mattress of gold brocade, propping up my elbow with a pillow, and turning neither to the right nor to the left; but looking only straight in front for the haughtiness of my mind and the gravity of my understanding.

And there before me stands my wife in her raiment and ornaments, lovely as the full moon; and I, in my loftiness and dread lordliness, 1 will not glance at her till those present say to me, "O our lord and our master, thy wife, thy handmaid, standeth before thee; vouchsafe her one look for standing wearieth her."

Then they kiss the ground before me many times; whereupon I raise my eyes and cast at her one single glance and turn my face earthwards again.

Then they bear her off to the bride-chamber, and I arise and change my clothes for a far finer suit; and, when they bring in the bride a second time, I deign not to throw her a look till they have begged me many times; after which I glance at her out of the corner of one eye, and then bend down my head. I continue acting after this fashion till the parading  and displaying are completed.

Thereupon I order one of my eunuchs to bring me a bag of five hundred dinars which I give as largesse to the tirewomen present and bid them one and all lead me to the bride-chamber.

When they leave me alone with her I neither look at her nor speak to her, but sit with my face to the wall showing my contempt, that each and every may again remark how high and haughty I am.

Presently her mother comes in to me; and kissing my head and hand, says to me,  "O my lord, look upon thine handmaid who longs for thy favour; so heal her broken spirit!"

I give her no answer ; and when she sees this she rises and kisses my feet many times and says, " O my lord, in very sooth my daughter is a beautiful maid, and if thou show her this backwardness and aversion, her heart will break; so do thou incline to her and speak to her and soothe her mind and spirit."

Then she rises and fetches a cup of wine; and says to her daughter, "Take it and hand it to thy lord."

But as she approaches me I leave her standing between my hands and sit, propping my elbow on a round cushion embroidered with gold thread, leaning lazily back, and without looking at her in the majesty of my spirit, so that she may deem me indeed a Sultan and a mighty man.

Then she says to me, "O my lord, Allah upon thee, do not refuse to take the cup from the hand of thine handmaid, for verily I am thy bondswoman."

But I do not speak to her and she presses me, saying, "There is no help but that thou drink it;" and she puts it to my lips.

Then I shake my fist in her face and kick her with my foot thus...

So he let out with his toe and knocked over the tray of glassware which fell to the ground and, falling from the bench, all that was on it was broken to bits.

"O foulest of fools, this comes from the pride of my spirit!" cried my brother; and then, O Commander of the Faithful, he buffeted his face and rent his garments, and kept on weeping and beating himself. The folk who were flocking to their Friday prayers saw him; and some of them looked at him and pitied him, whilst others paid no heed to him, and in this way my brother lost both capital and profit.

(painting by Charles Robertson)

NOTES

Al-Nashshar from Nashr = sawing: so the fiddler in Italian is called the "village-saw" (Sega del villagio). He is the Alnaschar of Galland, Addison and Richardson.

The tale is very old. It appears as the Brahman and the Pot of Rice in the Panchatantra ; and Professor Benfey believes (as usual with him) that this, with many others, derives from a Buddhist source. But I would distinctly derive it from Aesop's market-woman who kicked over her eggs, for reasons given in the Terminal Essay. In the " Kalilah and Dimnah" and its numerous offspring it is the "Ascetic with his Jar of Oil and Honey;" in Rabelais (i. 33) Echephron's shoemaker spills his milk, and so La Perette in La Fontaine. Hence, too, the Latin proverb, "Ante victoriam canere Iriumphum" = to sell the skin before catching the bear; to count your chickens before they're hatched. See M. Max Muller's "Chips," vol. iii., appendix. The curious reader will compare my version with that which appears at the end of Richardson's Arabic Grammar (Edition of 1811): he had a better, or rather a fuller MS. (p. 199) than any yet printed, the property of Sir W. Jones.

July 5. Story of the Day: The Beggar and the Barley

This is another story from Tibetan Folk Tales by A.L. Shelton.

This is classified as ATU 1430 Air Castles. This story is different from the usual story in that the daydreamer builds himself up into a state of glee rather than anger... but things also turn out far worse for him than most of the other dreamers: watch out for that barley sack!

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THE STORY OF THE BEGGAR

(barley)

Once upon a time there was a beggar, with hair in twisted wisps, dirty, dirty face and hands and a few rags for clothing, who begged from the people of the village for his living.

On one lucky day he had succeeded in begging about a bushel of barley. He took it home with him, put it in a sack and tied it up to the ceiling to the cross poles of his little hut, so the rats couldn't get it, and then lay down upon his bundle of rags to sleep.

He began to count how rich he would be if he got a bushel of barley every day.

He could afford him a wife.

When he got a wife he would have a son, and he wondered and wondered what he should name his boy.

Toward morning the light from the moon fell upon his bed and wakened him and gave him a brilliant thought. He would name his son Däwä Dräbä, which means the light of the moon; he was so pleased he jumped up from his bed, dancing around the room, flourishing his beggar's staff in his glee.

But alas, he flourished it a bit too fiercely, for it struck his big bag of barley, which fell on him and killed him, and the father of Däwä Dräbä was dead.

Fleeson. A Lazy Man’s Plot

The story comes from Laos Folk-Lore of Farther India by Katherine Neville Fleeson.

This is classified as ATU 1430 Air Castles.

A LAZY MAN'S PLOT

(pixabay)

Upon a day a beggar, who was too lazy to work, but ever lived on the bounty of the people, received a great quantity of rice.

He put it in a large jar and placed the jar at the foot of his bed, then he lay down on the bed and thus reasoned:

If there come a famine, I will sell the rice, and with the money, buy me a pair of cows, and when the cows have a calf, I’ll buy a pair of buffaloes.

Then, when they have a calf, I’ll sell them, and with that money, I’ll make a wedding and take me a wife.

And, when we have a child large enough to sit alone, I’ll take care of it, while my wife works the rice fields.

Should she say, ‘I will not work,’ I’ll kick her after this manner...

And he struck out his foot, knocking the jar over, and broke it. The rice ran through the slats of the floor, and the neighbors’ pigs ate it, leaving the lazy plotter but the broken jar.

Pantulu. Castle-Building

From Folk-lore of the Telugus by G.R. Subramiah Pantulu.

This is ATU 1430 Air Castles.

CASTLE-BUILDING

At Tirupati lived a Brahman in poor circumstances, who received on a certain day a pot of flour as a present from a certain merchant. He took it, and, being very tired, seated himself on the verandah of a house and soliloquized thus:

If I sell this pot of flour, I shall get half a rupee for it, with which I can purchase a kid.

This, in a short time, will produce a flock.

(Makhi Cheeni goats)

I will then sell them, and buy cows, buffaloes, etc., and thus in a few years I shall be the master of three thousand head of cattle.

I will then purchase a mansion, which I will furnish elegantly, and marry a beautiful damsel who will crown my happiness by giving birth to a son.

My wife will be particularly fond of me, but I shall not allow her too much freedom, and shall sometimes send her away with a kick when she comes to caress me...

Thus thinking, he thrust out his leg like one really going to kick, struck the pot and broke it into pieces. The flour got mixed with dirt, and all his ideas of happiness vanished.

Parker. The Pots of Oil

From Village Folk-Tales of Ceylon by H. Parker, volume 1, 53. This is the first part of the story; you can read the second part at Hathi.

This is ATU 1430 Air Castles.

THE POTS OF OIL

A man having gone to the Lower Twelve Pattus (the name of a district) to seek for coconuts, and having collected fifty or sixty coconuts at a shed [where he was lodging, found that] because of their great weight he was unable to bring them; and so he expressed [the oil from] them.

Having expressed it, on the morning of the following day he asked for two large pots, and filling them with the oil he tied them as a pingo (carrying-stick) load (one below each end of the stick), and set off with them.

During the time while he was coming on his way to his village, he met a man in the road, and having given him betel, etc., to eat, said, "Ane! Friend, you must assist me a little. Take this pingo load somewhat far, and hand it over to me. I will give you four tuttu (three halfpence)."

[The man agreed to help him, and took the load.] Then the man, as he was going along the road, thought, "With the funds provided by these four tuttu I shall buy a hen chicken. Having taken it home, after it has become large and laid twelve eggs I shall [set them under it and] get twelve chickens. After the twelve chickens have become big, I shall sell them for sixpence apiece. With that money I shall get a he-goat and a she-goat, and that she-goat will bear two kids.

"When the kids have become large I can sell them for five rupees apiece, and having given the ten rupees I shall get a buffalo cow. While I am rearing the buffalo cow she will bear a calf.

(water buffalo with calf)

At that time I shall go to ask about a lucky hour (fixed by astrology) for taking the [first] milk.

"After I have got to know the lucky hour and gone to take the milk, the buffalo cow, becoming afraid, will kick at me." 

Saying this, he jumped aside in order to avoid it.

As he was coming on the path, at this time he had reached a foot-bridge formed of a single tree trunk (edanda), and while going along at the middle of it he made the jump [to escape the cow's kick]. As he jumped, he fell off the tree trunk, taking the load of oil with him [and the two pots were smashed].

NOTES

Tom-tom Beater. North-western Province.

Some Eastern variants have been mentioned above in the story of the kitul seeds.

In The Orientalist, vol. ii, p. 102, there is a story by Mr. A. E. R. Corea, in which a man who was going in search of work gathered some leaves on the road-side, which are eaten as a vegetable. In another district where there were no vegetables he exchanged them for fishes, a leaf for a fish. Going on, he bartered these for digging hoes, and these again for oxen, with which he set off on his return home. Having nothing to eat, he continued to give two oxen for two rice cakes, until at last he arrived at his house empty-handed.

In the Panchatantra (Dubois), a Brahmana who had been at two feasts on the same day, carried away from the second some pots of ghl—or liquid butter—milk, and flour, and began to consider how be would acquire wealth by means of them. He would sell them, and buy a she-goat, which would have kids, and in a short time he would possess a flock. He would then sell the goats and buy a cow and a mare, by selling the calves and foals from which he would become a rich man. He would get married and have numerous children, who would be well educated and well dressed. His wife would become inattentive to her duties at the house. During her absence the children would run about near the cows, and the youngest one would be injured by them. For neglecting them he would beat his wife, and taking up his stick to beat her he smashed the pots containing his provisions.

Jacobs. The Broken Pot

From Indian Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs with illustrations by John Batten.

This is ATU 1430 Air Castles.

THE BROKEN POT

There lived in a certain place a Brahman, whose name was Svabhavakripana, which means "a born miser." He had collected a quantity of rice by begging, and after having dined off it, he filled a pot with what was left over. He hung the pot on a peg on the wall, placed his couch beneath, and looking intently at it all the night, he thought:

Ah, that pot is indeed brimful of rice. Now, if there should be a famine, I should certainly make a hundred rupees by it. 

With this I shall buy a couple of goats. They will have young ones every six months, and thus I shall have a whole herd of goats. 

Then, with the goats, I shall buy cows. As soon as they have calved, I shall sell the calves. 

Then, with the calves, I shall buy buffaloes; with the buffaloes, mares. 

When the mares have foaled, I shall have plenty of horses; and when I sell them, plenty of gold. 

With that gold I shall get a house with four wings. 

And then a Brahman will come to my house, and will give me his beautiful daughter, with a large dowry. 

She will have a son, and I shall call him Somasarman.

When he is old enough to be danced on his father's knee, I shall sit with a book at the back of the stable, and while I am reading, the boy will see me, jump from his mother's lap, and run towards me to be danced on my knee. He will come too near the horse's hoof, and, full of anger, I shall call to my wife, 'Take the baby; take him!' But she, distracted by some domestic work, does not hear me. Then I get up, and give her such a kick with my foot...

While he thought this, he gave a kick with his foot, and broke the pot. All the rice fell over him, and made him quite white. 

Therefore, I say, "He who makes foolish plans for the future will be white all over, like the father of Somasarman."

NOTES

Source.—Pantschatantra, V. ix., tr. Benfey, ii. 345-6.

Parallels.—Benfey, in § 209 of his Einleitung, gives bibliographical references to most of those which are given at length in Prof. M. Müller's brilliant essay on "The Migration of Fables" (Selected Essays, i. 500-76), which is entirely devoted to the travels of the fable from India to La Fontaine. See also Mr. Clouston, Pop. Tales, ii. 432 seq. I have translated the Hebrew version in my essay, "Jewish Influence on the Diffusion of Folk-Tales," pp. 6-7. Our proverb, "Do not count your chickens before they are hatched," is ultimately to be derived from India.

Remarks.—The stories of Alnaschar, the Barber's fifth brother in the Arabian Nights, and of La Perette, who counted her chickens before they were hatched, in La Fontaine, are demonstrably derived from the same Indian original from which our story was obtained. The travels of the "Fables of Bidpai" from India to Europe are well known and distinctly traceable. I have given a rough summary of the chief critical results in the introduction to my edition of the earliest English version of the Fables of Bidpai, by Sir Thomas North, of Plutarch fame (London, D. Nutt, "Bibliothèque de Carabas," 1888), where I have given an elaborate genealogical table of the multitudinous versions. La Fontaine's version, which has rendered the fable so familiar to us all, comes from Bonaventure des Periers, Contes et Nouvelles, who got it from the Dialogus Creaturarum of Nicholaus Pergamenus, who derived it from the Sermones of Jacques de Vitry (see Prof. Crane's edition, No. li.), who probably derived it from the Directorium Humanæ Vitæ of John of Capua, a converted Jew, who translated it from the Hebrew version of the Arabic Kalilah wa Dimnah, which was itself derived from the old Syriac version of a Pehlevi translation of the original Indian work, probably called after Karataka and Damanaka, the names of two jackals who figure in the earlier stories of the book. Prof. Rhys-Davids informs me that these names are more akin to Pali than to Sanskrit, which makes it still more probable that the whole literature is ultimately to be derived from a Buddhist source.

The theme of La Perette is of interest as showing the literary transmission of tales from Orient to Occident. It also shows the possibility of an influence of literary on oral tradition, as is shown by our proverb, and by the fact, which Benfey mentions, that La Fontaine's story has had influence on two of Grimm's tales, Nos. 164, 168.

Bompas. The Daydreamer

From Folklore of the Santal Parganas by Cecil Henry Bompas.

This is type ATU 1430 Air Castles.

THE DAYDREAMER

Once an oil man was going to market with his pots of oil arranged on a flat basket, and he engaged a Santal for two annas to carry the basket.

And as he went along, the Santal thought:

With one anna I will buy food and with the other I will buy chickens.

And the chickens will grow up and multiply.

And then I will sell some of the fowls and eggs, and with the money I will buy goats. 

And when the goats increase, I will sell some and buy cows.

Aand then I will exchange some of the calves for she-buffaloes.

And when the buffaloes breed, I will sell some and buy land and start cultivation.

And then I will marry and have children.

And I will hurry back from my work in the fields, and my wife will bring me water, and I will have a rest.

And my children will say to me, "Father, be quick and wash your hands for dinner," but I will shake my head and say, 'No, no, not yet!"

And as he thought about it he really shook his head, and the basket fell to the ground, and all the pots of oil were smashed.

Then the oil man abused him and said that he must pay two rupees for the oil and one anna for the pots. 

But the Santal said that he had lost much more than that, and the oil man asked him how that could be, and the Santal explained how with his wages he was going to get fowls and then goats and then oxen and buffaloes and land, and how he came to spill the basket.

At that the oil man roared with laughter and said, "Well, I have made up the account, and I find that our losses are equal, so we will cry quits." And so saying they went their ways laughing.

ATU 1430 Air Castles

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At this site:
Bompas. The Daydreamer
Jacobs. The Broken Pot
Parker. The Kitul Seeds
Parker. The Pots of Oil
Pantulu. Castle-Building
Swynnerton. Vessel of Butter
Stokes. Jar of Ghee
Upreti. Eating the Sweetmeats of Fancy
Fleeson. A Lazy Man’s Plot
Dracott. Sheikh Chilli
Lady Burton. The Barber's Tale of his Fifth Brother
(more to come!)

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ATU 1430 Air Castles. Three different forms:
1. A poor unmarried couple (father and son, two brothers, herdsmen, maidservants, other people) plan to turn their possessions (glassware, milk, honey, eggs, money) into great wealth (herds of animals, houses). As they imagine this wealth, they destroy what they already have.
2. A person (poor man, hunter, Gypsy, married couple) dreams of having a valuable possession (catch from hunting, etc.), which he then tries to obtain. His efforts fail because he imagines his success (e.g. the hunter is so excited that he frightens his prey).
3. A married couple (other people) imagine that they will obtain the means to achieve future wealth, but they disagree abotu how to manage it. One wants to keep reinvesting the future profits, while the other wants to enjoy part of the wealth.

J2060, J2061,
Bannu: Thorburn 207 (link: sheep in hedge)
Dames Folk-Lore III. 527 (Baluchistan)
Taylor Folk-Lore VI 403 (link: Sheik Chilli)
Telugu: Pantulu Ind. Antiquities 112 #22
O'Connor Indo-Tibetan 6 (tiger and man: 1-2-3)
Lewison JRAS Beng. V. 394: toad having money daydreams
Swynnerton Raja Rasalu 163 (link): silly mourners in advance

additional information:
Wikipedia
Ashliman: Air Castles

from ATU: Indian origin, see Hitopadesha (4.7) and Kalila wa Dimna (60). Known in Europe since Middle Ages: de Vitry Sermones (Crane edition 51).
additional bibliography (I have listed only what I am likely to find): Kirchhof/Oesterley 1869 I.1.171
Schwarzbaum 1968: 61ff. 455
Tubach 1969 Nos. 80, 3286
Hansen 2002: 138-142
Krzyzanowski 1962f. II

beggar's plan - afanasyev
day dreaming - jacobs (europa)
daydreamer - afanasyev
don't count your chickens - bushnaq arabic
don't count your chickens - clouston, popular tales (bibliography?)
lad and the fox - booss, scandinavian
lazy heinz - grimm
lean lisa - grimm
milkmail and her pail - jacobs aesop (get more Aesop)

1430A: Foolish concerns for an unborn child; cf. 1450.
Lutoniushka - afanasyev
sievemaker and the ass - megas, folktales

ATU 1430 Air Castles
The Poor Man and the Flask of Oil (India, Bidpai).
The Story of the Devotee Who Spilt the Jar of Honey and Oil (India / Persia).
What Happened to the Ascetic When He Lost His Honey and Oil (Kalilah and Dimnah).
Sheik Chilli (India, Alice Elizabeth Dracott).
The Fakir and His Jar of Butter (1001 Nights).
Day-Dreaming (1001 Nights, retold by Joseph Jacobs).
The Milkmaid and Her Pail (Aesop).
Story of an Old Woman, Carrying Milk to Market in an Earthen Vessel (France, Jacques de Vitry).
What Happened to a Woman Called Truhana (Spain, Prince Don Juan Manuel).
The Dairywoman and the Pot of Milk (France, Jean de La Fontaine).
Lazy Heinz (Germany, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm).
Lean Lisa (Germany, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm).
Buttermilk Jack (England, Thomas Hughes).
The Lad and the Fox (Sweden, Gabriel Djurklou).
The Peasant and the Cucumbers (Russia, Leo Tolstoy).
The Milkmaid and Her Bucket (USA, Ambrose Bierce).
Link to The $30,000 Bequest (Mark Twain).