The kindness-rewarded, greed-punished tale recur in nearly every human culture independently

Evidence

This Tibetan kind-and-cruel-brothers tale is, by my count, one we have now encountered in nearly EVERY region of this entire curriculum — the Somali two sisters, the Ethiopian saint, the Japanese Tongue-Cut Sparrow, the Korean Heungbu and Nolbu, the Chinese generous and greedy women, and many more. It may be the single most universal story-structure in all of human folklore. Now that you have seen it perhaps a dozen times across the whole world, step back and ask the big question: WHY does every human culture, independently, tell this same story — kindness rewarded, greed punished? Is it because it’s TRUE (does the world really work this way)? Or is it because humans NEED it to be true, and tell the story to teach it and to give themselves hope? What is the difference, and does it matter? — , A Year of World Stories, 9258

Categorization

• QUESTION: Whether these tales recur because they describe reality or because humans need them to be true is an open question worth chasing.
• SEED: An essay on ‘does morality in folklore reflect reality or wish’ — the epistemology of the world’s most universal story.
• XREF: 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; One act of kindness toward a humble creature can change a god’s destiny — , A Year of World Stories, 8261 (+8 more)

Related

• One act of kindness toward a humble creature can change a god’s destiny (similarity 0.80)
• A Tibetan tale claims gratitude outweighs supposed civilization (similarity 0.80)
• Goodness repays slowly through gentle people while wrongness punishes quickly (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Nearly every people independently creates culture-hero stories to explain origins #corroborates (0.70) — , A Year of World Stories, 15277