Gardenarian
10-12-11, 7:48pm
My daughter has been reading a manga series called Fruits Basket by Natsuki Takaya. I had some negative preconceptions about this (wasting her time reading comic books!) so I read a couple of the books. This story was in one of the books. It changed my mind entirely about manga.
The Most Foolish Traveler in the World
A foolish traveler was on a journey. He was stupid because he was easily tricked. The townspeople took advantage of him. On that journey, he was tricked into giving away all his money, clothes, and shoes. But the traveler was foolish, so when the townspeople lied to him saying, "This will really help," tears would stream down his face and he would say, "Please be happy."
When he gave away his last belonging, he was naked and ashamed to be seen. So he decided to travel in the forest. Then he met the monsters who lived in the forest. They wanted to eat him, so they tricked him with clever words. Of course, the traveler was fooled and when the monsters asked, he gave up his arms and legs.
Eventually, the traveler was nothing but a head. He even gave his eyes to the last monster he met. As the monster munched on his eyes, he said: "Thank you. I'll give you this in return," and left him. But that was a lie too.
His gift was a single piece of paper that had "fool" written on it. But the traveler cried and cried, saying: "Thank you. Thank you. This is the first time anyone's given me anything. I'm so happy. Thank you. Thank you" and tears kept flowing from his eye sockets, and while he was crying.....
......he died.
Everyone laughed. While they laughed, I closed my eyes and thought about the traveler. I thought about the traveler who was tricked into being nothing but a crying head saying, "Thank you. Thank you" and I thought how lucky he was.
Loss...suffering....
It's pointless to think about them.
The traveler didnt think about them.
That might be stupid to some people, but it's not stupid to me. I won't trick anyone, even if other people think that person deserves it. I just want to make them happy.
Do you really think that's stupid?
When you close your eyes....what do you think?
~Momiji Sohma in Fruits Basket
The Most Foolish Traveler in the World
A foolish traveler was on a journey. He was stupid because he was easily tricked. The townspeople took advantage of him. On that journey, he was tricked into giving away all his money, clothes, and shoes. But the traveler was foolish, so when the townspeople lied to him saying, "This will really help," tears would stream down his face and he would say, "Please be happy."
When he gave away his last belonging, he was naked and ashamed to be seen. So he decided to travel in the forest. Then he met the monsters who lived in the forest. They wanted to eat him, so they tricked him with clever words. Of course, the traveler was fooled and when the monsters asked, he gave up his arms and legs.
Eventually, the traveler was nothing but a head. He even gave his eyes to the last monster he met. As the monster munched on his eyes, he said: "Thank you. I'll give you this in return," and left him. But that was a lie too.
His gift was a single piece of paper that had "fool" written on it. But the traveler cried and cried, saying: "Thank you. Thank you. This is the first time anyone's given me anything. I'm so happy. Thank you. Thank you" and tears kept flowing from his eye sockets, and while he was crying.....
......he died.
Everyone laughed. While they laughed, I closed my eyes and thought about the traveler. I thought about the traveler who was tricked into being nothing but a crying head saying, "Thank you. Thank you" and I thought how lucky he was.
Loss...suffering....
It's pointless to think about them.
The traveler didnt think about them.
That might be stupid to some people, but it's not stupid to me. I won't trick anyone, even if other people think that person deserves it. I just want to make them happy.
Do you really think that's stupid?
When you close your eyes....what do you think?
~Momiji Sohma in Fruits Basket