Fortune and the Wood-Cutter is a fairy tale

Fairy tale

A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...

 collected in Traditions Populaires de l'Asie Mineure. Andrew Lang

Andrew Lang

Andrew Lang was a Scots poet, novelist, literary critic, and contributor to the field of anthropology. He is best known as a collector of folk and fairy tales. The Andrew Lang lectures at the University of St Andrews are named after him.- Biography :Lang was born in Selkirk...

 included it in The Brown Fairy Book.

Synopsis

A woodcutter, sick of working and always being poor, took to his bed instead of working. He told his wife he had had enough of Fortune's tricks and would not chase after her.

A neighbor borrowed their mules to secretly take some treasure he had found, though he knew it belonged to the sultan. When he saw soldiers, he hid, and the mules went back to their master. The wood-cutter and wife exclaimed on how chasing after Fortune made her flee, and doing nothing made her come.