From: nospam@pjanderson.freeuk.com   
      
   John Hunter wrote in message ...   
   >I am trying to trace a wonderful story about Time I heard on the radio   
   >several years ago.   
   >   
   >All I can remember is that a man, in some crisis and at a cross-roads,   
   >asks Vishnu for help. He is told to go and do something for Vishnu:   
   >then, when carrying out his task, he forgets. He meets a woman,   
   marries,   
   >has a family...a whole life-time goes by and then, one day, in some   
   >crisis he finds himself again at the cross-roads and Vishnu asks him   
   why   
   >he has taken so long to return, and has he carried out his task.   
      
   I don't know this story, but there are many stories like this, where one   
   character finds his/her whole life being rolled back to a key point, a   
   metaphorical crossroads in fact.   
      
   One of my favourites is a Scottish story, a variant of "The Man Who had   
   No Story", where the man is sent out from the house for such a heinous   
   offence, and ends up changing sex, marrying and having children, and   
   finally finds himself restored and back outside the house and no more   
   time than it takes to tell a story has elapsed.   
      
   Or a ?Spanish story where an old stranger offers a sea-captain success   
   in life, but he must promise to give him one gold coin a year.  The   
   captain assures him that of course he will keep his promise, prospers   
   and becomes king, but eventually he grows too mean to pay the old man,   
   and refuses - he finds himself back on his ship, being admonished for   
   being so unreliable.   
      
   There is an element of being tested in most of these stories.   
      
   hwyl/cheers   
   Philip Anderson   
   Cymru/Wales   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)