Written at: 7:53 PM
The Most Foolish Traveler In The World: Natsuki Takaya
Written in the character, Momiji Sohma's Words
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 his 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.
Momiji's Additional words:
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." And...I thought...how...lucky...he was. Loss...suffering...It's pointless to think about them. The traveler didn't 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.
Editor's Note:
"The Most Foolish Traveler In The World" is an original work by Takaya. No matter how hard you look, you won't find it in a bookstore.
Natsuki Takaya's words:
Everyone tells me that story is very much my style. Rather than try to elicit a cheap cry, I really wanted to make my readers face their own emotions.
My words:
I really enjoyed this story and I hope you people do too~ You can also read the story here too: http://mangavolume.com/index.php?serie=fruits-basket&chapter=fruits-basket-17&page_nr=18
On this site, the story was called The World's Stupidest Tourist.
