The Most Foolish Traveler in the World

(from Fruits Basket)

A foolish traveler was on a journey.
He was so foolish that he was easily tricked by others.
He was tricked by the villages, and lost his clothes and shoes.
But, since the traveler was a fool, even though 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 tricking him with lies.
Of course, the traveler fell for it, so he gave away his legs and arms, 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 just a piece of paper that had "Fool" written 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.



This is one of the saddest stories I've ever read. The villagers and the monsters took advantage of the traveler's kindness and stupidity...but at least the traveler died happily.