One day, along a dusty road that wound between fields and forests, two unusual travelers met: Luck and Misfortune. As they walked together, they began to argue. Misfortune insisted that she, too, could make a person happy just like Luck, if she really wanted to. But Luck shook her head and disagreed, saying that Misfortune could never truly make someone happy without her help. Determined to prove herself right, Misfortune pointed toward an old man slowly walking toward them, bent under the heavy load of firewood on his back.
Misfortune greeted him cheerfully, asking why he carried such a heavy burden instead of using a cart. The old man replied that he was poor and could not afford a cart or a horse. Misfortune gave him thirty gold coins and told him to buy what he needed. The old man’s eyes lit up with joy. He thanked her warmly, tucked the coins inside his shirt, and continued on his way. But the sun grew hot, and when he stopped by a river to drink, the coins slipped from his shirt into the water and sank to the bottom. Heartbroken, he returned home without telling his wife.
The next morning, he went back to the forest, where Luck and Misfortune were waiting. When asked about his horse and cart, he honestly explained what had happened. Misfortune, impatient but stubborn, handed him another thirty coins. This time, the old man hid them in a chest of flour at home before going to the village to buy a cart. While he was gone, a group of blind beggars came by. His kind wife, wanting to help, scooped flour into a bag for them—unknowingly giving away the coins too. When the old man returned and searched for his treasure, it was gone. He sighed, saying quietly, “If a man is unlucky, then he is unlucky,” and went back to the forest again.
There, he found Luck and Misfortune waiting once more. After hearing his story, Luck reached into her pocket and gave him just one coin. She told him to buy whatever he wished. The old man went home, only to find his wife sick in bed, craving fish. He hurried to the market, but with just one coin, he could not afford the expensive fish. Finally, a fisherman, moved by his story, sold him a large pike for that single coin.
When the old man cut open the fish to prepare it, he was astonished to find thirty gold coins inside—the very same ones he had lost in the river. Later, when he bought flour from a blind woman at the market, he discovered another thirty coins hidden in the bag—these were the coins his wife had unknowingly given away to the beggars. With this money, the old man bought a fine horse and cart, and from that day on, his life changed. He could carry his firewood to market with ease and live more comfortably with his wife.
Some time later, while driving his cart along the forest road, the old man met Luck and Misfortune again. They asked where he had gotten his horse and cart, and he told them the whole story. Luck then turned to Misfortune with a knowing smile and said, “You see? You cannot make anyone happy without me.”