Week 6 Story: The Magical Shoelaces

 

The Shoelaces. Source: Pixabay.

The Magical Shoelaces

    There was once a parrot who loved his master so much. He would do almost anything for the master, and when the master's mistress was seeing another guy, the parrot just was not going to have it. His master had been away on business, and so the parrot decided to come up with a plan, he would tell a story every night to the mistress in hopes of making her late to see her new lover. For the past few nights, the parrot's plan had been working very well and it was almost time again to come up with another story for the evening.

    The mistress had just walked in from working her day job and was getting ready to leave when the parrot had asked her if she was ok to listen to another one of his stories. The mistress was not very eager but when the parrot insisted it would be short, she decided to listen anyways.

    

The parrot began telling his story:

    Once upon a time in a city very far, far away. There were a group of four friends who had been growing up together ever since they were born. They loved and cared for each other very much but were struggling to make ends meet. All four of them had grown up in poverty.

    One friend had heard that there might be a philosopher in the town over that could fix their problems. When the other friends heard the news of this, they were all down to go because they did not have much else to lose. When they arrived at the home of the philosopher, they explained to him their worries and struggles.

    The philosopher decided to have compassion on them and gave them each a pair of magical shoes. He told the friends to put them on, obey the laces, and start to dig when they stop. They all looked at each other and were very puzzled. What did the philosopher mean by "obey the laces" they wondered.

    They started to walk back home when one of the friends' shoelaces start to pull towards the north. He could feel the laces as they were tugging at his feet. He decided to follow the advice of the philosopher and let the shoelaces do the work. Eventually, the laces dropped to the ground and stopped tugging. The friend began to dig and found a copper mine. He told his friends they could stay with him, but they decided to move on.

    The next friend's shoelaces started to tug at his feet as well. Just like his first friend, he decided to follow the laces. When they dropped to the ground, the friend began to dig and found a silver mine. He told his friends that they were welcome to share with him, but they nodded their heads no.

    The shoelaces of the third friend began to tug shortly after. At this point, he had caught onto the trend and followed the laces. When his shoelaces fell to the ground, he began to dig. He was amazed when he had found a gold mine. He told the last friend, "you're welcome to stay with me, there's plenty to share."

    The fourth friend told him, "I'll pass, thank you though. Something ahead is even better."

Shortly after, the laces of the fourth friend began to pull. He obeyed their direction and when they dropped, the man dug. He was in disbelief when he uncovered an iron mine. "Why did I reject the mines of all of my friends?," he thought to himself.

    The fourth friend decided to head back to where his friend had found the gold mine but nothing was there. He did the same with the silver and copper mines; however, the mines and his friends were nowhere to be found. He decided to turn back to his iron mine, but when he arrived, it was gone. His only hope was to go and find the philosopher.

    When he arrived at the location of the philosopher, he found an empty house with no one to be seen. He was left with nothing but poverty. All thanks for not listening to the advice of his friends.

    The parrot finished the story by saying, "Those who do not listen to their friends will suffer and be left unhappy. You may now go and see your lover."

    However, when the mistress looked at the time, it was already morning. The parrot's plan had worked again.

  

Bibliography: "Four Rich Persons who Became Poor" by Ziya'al-Din Nakhshabi (1801). Web source.

Author's Note: I kept most of the story the exact same. The characters in the story are all the same. The parrot in the original story is trying to keep the mistress away from her secret lover just like in my version. In both stories, the master is away for business. The only things that I changed was adding extra details to the story. For example, saying things like the parrot loves his master very much and saying that the philosopher's house was still there when the fourth friend went looking. These small extra details allowed me to add my own twists and details to the story. In the original story, the philosopher gave the friends balls to place on their heads. He told them when they dropped to dig in that spot. I decided to give the friends shoes with magical laces. I liked the idea of shoelaces pulling at the feet of the friends. The message in the story is the same. If someone is not listening to the advice of their friends, they will suffer and ultimately not be happy. Thanks for the read, and I hope you enjoyed it!