There was once a merchant who, after years of bad business, was cursing his bad luck.
A traveler was passing by, and he asked the merchant what was troubling him. Hearing that the merchant was a man of great ill fortune, the traveler opened his knapsack and pulled out a strange-looking device made from two crystal glasses stuck together. They were decorated with strange drawings. One glass was green, and the other red, and inside each glass were some strange seeds, each the same color as their glass.
"Well, you`ve just run into some good luck, meeting me," said the traveler. "This is exactly what you need: two little pots of luck."
The merchant was somewhat surprised, but the traveler explained to him that these seeds were seeds of luck. The green seeds brought good luck, and the red seeds brought bad luck. The two glasses were joined, and when one filled up, it caused multiple incidents of good or bad luck, according to which type of seed was overflowing the glass.
The merchant, thrilled, thanked him for the gift, and hardly managed to hear the traveler’s last words, warning the merchant how difficult it was to use the glasses effectively. Expectantly, he carefully examined the green seeds; the lucky ones. Though he wasn`t familiar with them, he was sure he could find someone that could sell him several new containers, and so he covered the top of the vessel with great care, being sure not to drop it.
Then he looked at the red seeds, and thought that the best way to avoid them filling the glass would be to empty them out, right there. So that`s what he did, and off he went, continuing his journey. A little later, he met a woman who, seeing his seed jars, must have recognized them. She ran up to him and asked him for a good handful of seeds. The merchant roundly refused, and the woman left, cursing him under her breath.
"What do they want me to do?" he thought, sadly, "I can`t just throw away my good luck."
He continued on his way, and had many other similar encounters.
As time went on, the merchant saw that only the red jar was filling up. It seemed more or less logical, because otherwise the jars wouldn`t have much power. He just stopped every now and then to empty the red seeds out.
However, the red jar was filling up faster and faster, and it reached a point where he could hardly empty it before it had filled up again. Finally it started overflowing.