Small kindnesses toward the helpless may yield great returns
Evidence
The lesson, the old people say: never despise a small creature in trouble, and never think a small kindness is wasted. The snake you warm in your coat today may be the dragon who saves your people tomorrow. — , A Year of World Stories, 7706
Categorization
- XREF: Parallels the universal ‘kindness repaid’ motif seen in Aesop and the Androcles tale. — connects to: Goodness repays slowly through gentle people while wrongness punishes quickly — , A Year of World Stories, 4219; Giving something away can make it grow rather than diminish — , A Year of World Stories, 11790; One act of kindness toward a humble creature can change a god’s destiny — , A Year of World Stories, 8261 (+3 more)
Related
- One act of kindness toward a humble creature can change a god’s destiny (similarity 0.87)
- Goodness repays slowly through gentle people while wrongness punishes quickly (similarity 0.83)
- Selfless kindness directed even at inanimate objects is held up as an ideal (similarity 0.82)
Broader Connections
- One act of kindness toward a humble creature can change a god’s destiny
#exemplifies(0.85) — , A Year of World Stories, 8261 - The kindness-rewarded, greed-punished tale recur in nearly every human culture independently
#corroborates(0.70) — , A Year of World Stories, 9258 - Giving something away can make it grow rather than diminish
#corroborates(0.60) — , A Year of World Stories, 11790 - Selfless kindness directed even at inanimate objects is held up as an ideal
#expands(0.50) — , A Year of World Stories, 8454