Once upon a time?. there was a shoe maker who was working day and night to support his poor family. One day the king of the town decided to take a walk to have a look at how his people were making their living and if they liked their lives. As he was walking along the shoe maker?s shop ,he heard him tapping a sole and crying: ?I stopped it on my own, I stopped it by myself?. The king couldn?t understand why the man was crying and repeating these words, so he decided to get into the shoe shop and ask him. When the surprised man found out that the king wanted him to tell the reason for uttering these words he was in floods of tears and started telling his story. One night he was sound asleep and saw in his dream a tall, old man .All the place was full of big, small, old or new faucets. The old man told the poor shoe maker that all those taps were people?s good or bad fate. If the water ran quickly and in great deal, then the person was supposed to have good luck. If there were only some drops, it meant the person was very unlucky. The shoe maker asked the old man to find his own tap. The old man said: ?Can you see that huge waterfall with the crystal clear water flowing? Well, behind this, you will see your tap?good luck!? .When the shoe maker went to see his tap he was taken aback as he saw a tiny, rusty one .Every minute there was one drop. The shoe maker decided to do something about it and took a stick which was lying nearby and tried to make the water flow more quickly, but as he plugged the stick in the tap he heard a loud ?crack!? and the stick got stuck in the tap. He stopped the water for ever. He just couldn?t believe his eyes; the water would never flow again. When the King heard the story he left almost in tears. The next day he sent his servant to the shoe maker with a big turkey .The shoe maker got very enthusiastic about the King?s present but he decided to give the turkey to the baker so that he could exchange it for 10 sacks of flour. In that way his family could be fed for more than once. When he left,the baker took a knife to cut the turkey. What he found in it was unbelievable.300 golden pounds! In the meantime, the king expected to see the shoe maker coming to thank him in his palace, but this didn?t happen, so he decided to send more presents. Days were passing by and all the presents (pies, fruit, biscuits and others) were exchanged for some sacks of flour. The greedy baker said nothing and the poor , unlucky shoe maker didn?t know how unlucky he was. One day the servant put a sack of 1000 golden pounds in the middle of a bridge , through which the shoe maker would walk to go home from work. As the shoe maker was approaching the bridge , he said to himself : ?All those years I cross this bridge .I am fed up of this routine, today I will cross it with my eyes closed just for a change?. When the servant saw that the shoe maker passed over this golden opportunity with his eyes closed, he ran to his king and said what he had seen. The King immediately went to the shoe maker?s house and explained what he had been doing the past ten days.The king demanded to see all the gold but the shoe maker said that all the presents were being exchanged for some sacks of flour .The King rushed to the greedy baker?s shop and told the guards to arrest him. The gold was eventually given to the poor shoe maker who was then invited to be the personal shoe maker of the king. From then on , the shoe maker thought he became lucky , so he left his poor shop and became one of the most famous shoe makers in the world. I wanted to go to his dinner party but I wasn?t invited. So, don?t believe a word I have said!It was just an old Greek tale?But the shoe maker's house can be seen in this image.... By: Olga Melissa http://www.usefilm.com/photographer/60878.html
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{K:22477} 3/23/2005
