Story

“The Greatest Fools of the World” was the title of that book. Then you see, we all read that book together. Among those stories there was a story called “The Most foolish traveler of the world”.
A foolish traveler was on a journey. He was so foolish that he was easily tricked by others.
- “Please, money for medicine.” And he gave them money…
He was tricked by the villagers and lost his clothes and shoes.
- “My sister is sick.” And he gave them his clothes.
- “I have no money to buy seeds for the field.” And he gave him his shoes.
But since the traveler was a fool, even when the villagers thanked him with lies, saying: “You saved me!”, he believed them and kept saying “be happy, be happy!”
In the end, the traveler became bare-naked, and was so ashamed. So he went inside the forest…But this time he met the monsters living in the forest.
The monsters wanted to eat the traveler’s body so they began to trick them with lies.
Of course, the traveler fell for it so he gave away his arms and legs, one by one.
In the end, the traveler only had his head left. Then he gave away his eyes to the last monster.
As the monster ate the traveler’s eyes, it said: “Thank you. I’ll give you a present in return.” And left something behind.
But it was only a piece of paper which had written “Fool” on it.
Yet…the traveler began to cry. “Thank you! Thank you! I’ve never gotten a present before.”
“I’m happy, I’m happy. Thank you! Thank you!”, he said…and poured tears out of his already gone eyes.
And then the traveler died soon after.

The story ends here…
My classmates all called the traveler a fool.
But I closed my eyes and thought about the traveler.
I thought of the traveler, fooled and only left with his head, crying while saying “Thank you!”
Then, I said to myself: “Ah…how lovely this is. Losses or suffering…it’s no use worrying about them. The wanderer didn’t worry about those.
Even if it is something considered foolish by others, I didn’t think it was foolish. Even if it’s someone who is easily fooled by others, I didn’t try to fool him.
I…just really wanted to make others happy