Anybody know the source of this parable?

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According to the story, there was a rich man with lots of friends, only he wasn't sure who were his true friends and who were just hanging around to freeload off him. So one day he called them all together and told them that he'd lost all his money........they started to make their excuses and left, until there were just a couple of people remaining, who told him that they didn't mind that he had nothing, and were prepared to stand by him. Then he told them that he'd actually been lying, that he still had his money.

It sounds like a New Testament parable to me, as it seems to have Jesus stamped all over it, but I can't find it anywhere. Can anybody confirm where it's from?

I'm pretty sure it's not actually from the New Testament. It's vaguely reminiscent of the parable told in Luke 14:15-23, but there are significant differences too.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109936/

Thanks....I'm pretty sure it's neither of those, although I can see some parallels in there.

Maybe it's Old Testament? Or even one of Aesop's Fables? Back in those days, my education was pretty limited for its source material. I can't imagine anywhere else I could have picked it up.....it's driving me nuts

It is definitely not in the Bible, either old or new testament. I've read it through a few times now. You're right, the story is reminiscent of some of Jesus'. But I can cofirm it's absolutely not Bible.

I think it may be based on a European fable, Aesop, or Hans Christian Anderson, or someone like that, with a Judeao Christian background. That would explain the familiarity of the story.

I'll ask round, but it's possible it's a story someone invented for you when you were a kid, and it's a purely oral fairy tale.

Thanks - I guess it could have been some didactic book or other that they read us stories from. Somehow I doubt whether any of our teachers would have made it up just for us. They didn't really do that.