Once upon a time there was a foolish traveler who had gone on a journey..Why was he foolish? Well because he was fooled by every one he met. Every were he went people made up all kinds of sad stories to tell him, and the traveler fell for every one of them..Pretty soon his money, his clothes, even his shoes had been cheated away from him, but the foolish traveler was always glad to help, and he always told the people the same thing--he said; "I wish you happiness".

But by this point though, the traveler was completely naked, and with nothing left to cover himself with, he decided to leave the main road and travel though the dense forest, were no one could see him..

But soon he was discovered by the goblins that lived in the woods, the goblins wanted to eat the travelers body! So they begged and they pleaded and used kind words to try and trick him..of course..the traveler was fooled--Fist he let the goblins eat one of his legs, then an arm, then more and more. Before it was over all the traveler had left was his head..he'd even given his eyes away to the last of the goblins..And as that last goblin was eating the travelers eyes, he turned to the traveler and said:

"Thank you traveler, in return I leave you this present."

What the goblin left was a slip of paper with the word "Fool" written on it. The traveler couldn't see it, he didn't know what it was..Even so tears began to flow down his face..

"Thank you," He said. "This is the first present anyone's ever given me!! I'm so happy..I'm so happy..thank you.."

Even without his eyes, he cried and he cried great tears of joy..Then..the traveler died, the smile still on his face.

And that's the end of the story. After we heard that yesterday all of the other kids in class started making fun of the traveler..But while they did that, I closed my eyes and I thought about him a little bit longer. I though about how he gave everything away, until all he had left was his head, and how at the end he still cried for joy as he said thank you.

And then...I realized, ahh..I feel so sorry for him, see?

Loss, hardship, things like that..you can't only focus on them, the traveler didn't. He never thought about his own troubles at all. I imagine that it probably does sound foolish to some people..but not to me, I don't think he's foolish at all. Even though other people probably think he was being tricked, I don't think he was..I think he did exactly what he wanted to do..I think..more than anything, he just wanted to make other people happy..What about you? What do you think? Really..is that foolish?..When you close your eyes and think about it..is that what it is?..

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