One act of kindness toward a humble creature can change a god’s destiny

Evidence

The lesson, the old tale says, is double: the clever hare learned that boasting after a trick can cost you your skin — but the cruel brothers learned that cruelty wins nothing, and the gentle god learned that a single act of kindness, even to a foolish hare, can change your whole destiny. — , A Year of World Stories, 8261

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes the Jain/Buddhist compassion ideals I’ve catalogued in South Asian trickster tales. — connects to: Goodness repays slowly through gentle people while wrongness punishes quickly — , A Year of World Stories, 4219; Small kindnesses toward the helpless may yield great returns — , A Year of World Stories, 7706; Selfless kindness directed even at inanimate objects is held up as an ideal — , A Year of World Stories, 8454 (+1 more)

Related

• Small kindnesses toward the helpless may yield great returns (similarity 0.87)
• Selfless kindness directed even at inanimate objects is held up as an ideal (similarity 0.82)
• Goodness repays slowly through gentle people while wrongness punishes quickly (similarity 0.81)
• The kindness-rewarded, greed-punished tale recur in nearly every human culture independently (similarity 0.80)

Broader Connections

• Selfless kindness directed even at inanimate objects is held up as an ideal #expands (0.60) — , A Year of World Stories, 8454
• The kindness-rewarded, greed-punished tale recur in nearly every human culture independently #corroborates (0.55) — , A Year of World Stories, 9258