A Man in Search of His Luck Once there was a man who was terribly unlucky . In fact he was so unlucky , he was famous for being successful at failing . Everything he tried to do he made a mess of . It was very distressing and one day he said to his friends " I am going to go to get some luck . " And his friends scoffed and said " Don ' t be silly , you can ' t go and get luck . It isn ' t something you buy in a shop . " And he said " I can . I can go and get some luck . I know where to get it . " And they said " Where ? " And he said " God ' s got some . In fact God ' s got a lot and I am going to go and see God to find out how much I can have . I am not going to be greedy . I am only going to ask for about a bucketful . " And they said " Don ' t be silly , you don ' t know where God is . " The man said " I do . He lives in a house on the far side of the great forest . " Well they mocked him and they ridiculed him and so on , but it didn ' t matter . one morning he set off to see God . He almost reached the trees when he met a wolf . And the wolf was in a terrible condition . Its eyes were red - rimmed and its ribs showed through its skin and it was very , very ill - very ill . And he looked at him , and this was back in the days when wolves could talk to men , and he looked at him and said " Oh , can you help me please ? I feel so ill . " The man said " I ' m sorry , I am very sorry , I can ' t help you . I ' m on the way to God to get some luck . " " Oh , er could you ask him for some for me please ? " " Oh , yes " he said " you are one of God ' s creatures , I am sure he will have some for you , yes , oh yes . " And he went on . He got half way through the forest when he came to a tree that was all twisted and bent and gnarled . And the tree looked at him , and this was back in the days when trees could talk to men , and the tree said " Aah , can you help me please ? I ' ve got a terrible pain in my feet . " The man said " I ' m very sorry . I can ' t help you , I ' m in a hurry . I ' m going to God to get some luck . " The tree said " Aah , can you ask him for some for me please ? " And the man said " Oh , I am sure he will have some for you . Of course , yes . " And he went on . He reached the far edge of the trees and walked out into the sunlight and there was a huge white tower and half way up the tower was a window and sitting in the window was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen in his life . And she looked down at him , and this was back in the days when girls could talk to men , and she said " Oh please can you help me . I am so miserable , I am so unhappy . " He said " I would love to stay and help you but I haven ' t got time . I am going to God to get some luck you see . " " Oh " she said " could you ask him for some for me please ? " " Of course " he said " I ' m sure he ' ll have plenty for you , yes , haha , oh yes . See you when I come back . " He finally reached God ' s House and he went in and there was a long room with God at the far end on a chair . And he went up to God and he said " God , I ' ve come . and God said " I know why you have come . You have come for some luck and I am going to help you . " Then the man said " Oh I am so grateful . Thank you very , very much . I , er I ' m not greedy , I just want about a bucketful . " And God said " Well , I am not going to give you any but I will tell you where it is . " So the man looked round and said , " Oh right , where do you keep it ? " And God said , " Well there is none in here . But , go home and just keep your eyes open because luck is all around you . All you have to do is to keep your eyes open and you will find it . " Well the man thought that was rather an odd thing to say because he didn ' t walk around with his eyes shut . And he had never seen any lumps of luck lying around anywhere . And so he said " Oh , right , okay . Well , perhaps , could you just start me off with a handful , just to get me going ? " God shook his head . " Well " he said " just er , just a bit to fill a pocket , sort of ? " God shook his head again . " Well " he said " how about a pinch of luck just to get me started ? " No . No , it ' s all around me , I just have to keep my eyes open . " God nodded and said " That ' s right . " Well , the man turned to go and then he remembered the wolf and the tree and the girl and he told God about them and God told him what to say . So he set off back home feeling very disconsolate . He wasn ' t very happy with God . He felt God had let him down because he could have just given him some luck . It wouldn ' t have been too much trouble . Just a little bit . And all he had said was " It ' s all around you , just keep your eyes open . " What a silly thing to say ! He reached the tower and the gorgeous girl was still sitting in the window and she looked down at him , and she said " Oh , hello . Did you see God ? " " Oh yes , I did , yes . " " What did he say about me ? " " Oh " he said " what you have got to do is find a handsome , unattached young man and fall in love and get married and you will be happy for the rest of your life . " " Oh , I see . I , er , I think you are very handsome . What do you think about me ? " " Oh " he said " I think you are absolutely beautiful . " " Oh thank you . Um , are you , er , are you married ? " " No , no , I am not married , no . " " Have you got a girlfriend ? " " No , I haven ' t got a girlfriend . " " Would you like a girlfriend ? " " Oh , I ' d love a girlfriend . " " Would you like a girlfriend like me ? " " Oh , I would LOVE a girlfriend like you . Ooooh ! " " Well , what about you and me getting together and being girlfriend and boyfriend ? " " Oh no " he said " no , I would love it , Oh I would love to be your boyfriend but you see , I ' m looking for my luck and God said it is all around you . You just have to keep your eyes open and so I am sorry , I can ' t . Oh , I would love to stay but I haven ' t got the time . I am sorry . " And he went on . He had gone half way through the forest and the tree saw him coming and said " Aah hello . Did you see God ? " The man said " Oh yes " he said " I saw God . He said the reason you have got a pain in your feet is that there is a metal box under your tap root and it is full of gold and your root can ' t get through it , which is what ' s giving you the pain . All you have to do is dig out the box ". And the tree said " Well , I ' m a tree and trees can ' t dig but over there , there ' s a shovel . You could do it for me . " " Oh no " he said " no , no . You see I am looking for my luck and it is all around you . You just have to keep your eyes open . I haven ' t got time to dig . " And he went on . He reached the far edge of the trees and there was the wolf looking even worse than before . It looked very , very ill . And it looked at him and said " Ooh , did you see God ? What did he say about me ? " And the man said " Ah , your problem is an easy one . The only thing that ' s wrong with you is that you are hungry and God said what you ' ve got to do is to jump on the first silly fool that comes along and eat him . " And that ' s exactly what the wolf did .