I like the Malay folklore about a poor lazy man, Mat Jenin. While climbing a coconut tree, he daydreams about selling the fruits and buying a chicken instead. The chicken would lay him an egg and he would have more chickens. Then, he would replace the chickens with goats since they would fetch him better prices and the goats would be replaced with cows and the cows with buffalos. He would become very rich and ladies would flock to him like flies. He would however marry only a princess but if she were to pester for gold and jewellery, he would just give her a tight slap. He gives a slap and when his hands let go off the trunk of the coconut tree, he of course, fell; to his death perhaps. The story of Mat Jenin is a delight to read and while we are at that, I wonder if meditation could cure mittyesque. Since Thurber's short story, mittyesque has been used to denote an ineffectual person who spends more time in heroic daydreams than paying attention to the real world. As meditation supposedly stops the mind from flickering like a flame, I figure it could render an ineffectual person effectual.
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