A man and his mule, laden with gold, were walking along a dry riverbed when a sudden flood swept them away. The bridle broke, and the man thought he'd lost both his mule and the gold.
When the flood subsided, he walked along the riverbed and saw a single hair sticking out. He pulled: it was the hair of a mule's tail. He pulled harder... and there was his mule in the mud, and his gold.
Hence the saying: luck might be as slender as a single hair, but if you are unlucky, not even a chain will save you.
Inspired by: "The Wealthy Arab and his Mule" in Algerian Folktales (published in Folklore) by M. W. Hilton-Simpson, 1924.
Notes: You can read the original story online. The author collected this story from an Arab storyteller in El Kantara to the north of Biskra in northeastern Algeria.
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