On the Migration of Fables

This monograph by F. Max Muller is a classic study of East to West migration of folk stories. He sets it up with a detailed study of the fable known to us as the Milkmaid and the Spilt Milk. This is the same theme expressed by the proverb Do not count your chickens before they are hatched. He traces this all the way back to the Panchatantra, complete with a detailed historical flowchart. Müller then gives a second example: the fable of Barlaam and Josaphat. Barlaam was a (possibly legendary) dark-ages saint. Müller demonstrates that this tale matches the narrative of the Birth Story of the Buddha, as found in the Lalita Vistara.