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THE
SILVER SHOES
Once,
before this, in the Town of Discontent, lived a little boy named
Saad. Now Discontent was not always the name of the town; it
was once known as Pleasant. It was an unusual town because
everyone who lived there always wore silver shoes. You see,
there was a shoemaker in Pleasant that made silver shoes for
everyone and all he ever charged was a smile.
The
silver shoes were unusual because they never wore out. Another
unusual thing about them was that they were always the right size no
matter how big the people's feet were. Whenever a new baby was born
in Pleasant the parents would take the baby to the shoemaker and he
would make a pair of beautiful silver shoes. Somehow, as the
baby grew, so did the shoes.
But one
day, another shoemaker came to Pleasant. He opened his shop
right next door to the maker of the silver
shoes.
"Come and
try on MY beautiful shoes," he called to the people as they walked
by his shop. "They are gold and they have jewels that glisten
like all the colors of the rainbow."
The
people of Pleasant thought the shoes were indeed very
beautiful. Why, some pair even had three or four jewels on
each shoe! Everyone rushed into the new shoe shop to buy
shoes, but when they smiled at the new shoemaker and started to
leave, he said, "That will be $10.00
please."
"The old
shoemaker only charges a smile." they said.
"But his
shoes all look alike," the new shoemaker
answered.
"That's
true," the people would say, and then they would pay the $10.00,
take their shoes and rush home to try them on.
Now when
Saad was born, the town was still called the Town of Pleasant and
Saad was named Happy. True to his name, he was a happy little
boy.
"lets
take him to the NEW shoemaker," said his mother. "I like all
the pretty jewels he puts on the shoes he makes; see how mine
sparkle."
"10.00 is
a lot of money,"said his father. "But if that's what you want,
we will get them for Happy."
They took
Happy to the new shoe shop and he was fitted with a beautiful pair
of gold shoes with red and blue jewels. But a few months later
they were too tight and Happy bagan to cry because the shoes hurt
his feet.
"I don't
have $10.00 to buy another pair right now," said his
father.
"But he
must have shoes," cried his mother.
"His
father thought for a moment, "Well, we do have the money we
saved for his new bed. We could use some of
that."
So back
they went to the new shoe shop. But when another few months
had gone by, the second pair of shoes were too small and Happy was
not happy, because his feet were hurting
again.
"We must
go back to the old shoemaker," said his
father.
When they
came to the place where the old shoemaker had been, the shop was
empty.
"Oh!"
exclaimed his mother, "What will we do!"
"There is
nothing we can do," answered his father. "We have no money to
buy from the new shoemaker and now the old shoemaker is gone.
Our son will have to be without shoes; and so shall we, for our
shoes are wearing thin and it will not be long before we will have
to throw them away.
All the
other families in Pleasant found themselves with the same problem
for they too had been attracted by the sparkling shoes and,
because no one came for the silver shoes anymore, the old
shoemaker had moved on to another town.
And so it
was that the Town of Pleasant became the Town of Discontent and
Happy became Saad.
© by Jackie
McCune
Email the Author-
mericalcity@yahoo.com
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