Hans im Glück - an early German Forrest Gump?

Last night I felt a need to re-read an old German fairy tale: "Hans im Glück " and in case you can't quite remember the plot let me refresh your memory.Hans had been away from his village for seven good years and he felt it was time to go home and be with his mother again.His Master had been very pleased with Hans and to compensate him well he gave Hans a nice lump of gold - almost as large as the young man's head!

Hans was delighted and at once began his journey home.Soon the gold became too heavy,he traded it for a horse;the horse was too wild and Hans agreed to trade it for a cow;when he was unable to milk the cow, he exchanged her for a pig.The pig - it was suggested - may have been a stolen one and Hans was happy to let go of it for a well fed goose.Finally a con artist relieves him of the goose for two ordinary coble stones letting Hans believe he could use them to sharpen folks' knives and scissors thus making good money for the rest of his days...and of course they soon became heavy and during a short pause at a drinking well Hans accidentally pushed them off the wall and he saw them hit the deep bottom with a splash.

Hans wasn't bothered - he was happy to be free of them and with light steps he finished his journey home.

After I had finished the story I was puzzled about the ending.....for each time Hans had been trading one "object" for another I had hoped he would hold on to the next - and especially after he had "lost"that big lump of gold....why did he exchange gold for an untrained horse etc.?? and then I flashed over to Forrest Gump...was Forrest not also being led from one episode to the next,to the next and letting go of the former each time?

And this then maybe the deeper message for my students and myself: it is most likely quite wise to not hang on to or to identify with objects that the world of forms presents us with - in the end they will only burden us and make us "heavy".... but that is only one aspect - there is another far deeper bond that Forrest and Hans share...and I will get to that at a later date.