Once upon a time, in a land not quite so far away, there lived a sole. This sole dwelt in familiar places, and presented pleasant adventures to those who were daring enough to meet its acquantaince.
There was one daring enough.
As with all things beautiful, there was utter innocence in the day that the one sole was taken in by the foot. The foot was optimistic and trusting, and eagerly slid itself into the shoe of which the sole took residence.
The sole didn't mind, since the sole was a friendly one, and thought to itself that this was akin to any regular engagement, of the sort that it had always had for whoever and whatever crossed its path.
So the sole & the foot grew to be friends.
Time passed swiftly.
The foot grew, and had many opportunities for journeys and adventures. So, as the story goes, the foot many a time would slide alongside the sole, and graciously bring the sole along into its many destinations that it set foot on. So the foot was happy, because it could gladly share its experiences with its sole mate. For much of the time, the sole was happy too, because the sole also enjoyed being part of the foot's adventures.
However, the poor sole was neither a great thinker nor planner. For you see, the sole also followed many other feet on their travels, that were very much different indeed from those in which the foot would invite it to go for. This was because the sole was a free sole, and could go wherever it pleased and could attach itself to whichever foot that suited its fancy.
So, at times, the sole would get tied up in other adventures, to the exclusion of the foot. The sole immensely enjoyed those adventures, although the foot was not a part of them, because the sole had a hunger for things in the valleys and mountains far beyond its dwellings. These feet folk would often go there, and the sole looked forward greatly to each time it was privileged enough to be carried along to those distant, mystical lands.
The foot was aware of the sole's fascinations, but did not think much of it, for after all, the foot reasoned that the sole & itself had had many memorable trips together, and surely the sole's interest in foreign places could not possibly jeopardise the good company which the foot kept the sole in, and the many opportunities for fun that the foot often shared graciously with the sole.
Then one day, in the early hours of the morning, the foot went off in search of the sole, for the foot had just prepared itself for another journey, and was eager to tell the sole of it, for the foot had hoped that they would be able to go off for the trip together. The foot was in a joyous mood, and could hardly wait to find its sole mate in order to break to it the lovely news of the impending adventure that they would have before them.
But alas! To the foot's dismay, the sole was nowhere to be found. The foot had already set itself right at the place of the sole's dwelling, but the sole had apparently disappeared. By chance, another sole happened to flit by, and the anxious foot hurried towards that other sole. As it turned out, the other sole was in fact a close companion of the one sole that the foot was in search of.
"Where has my sole mate gone?" Asked the now desperate foot.
A feeling of gloom and despair had quickly swept over it and threatened to make its steps falter. Its very stance felt shaky, and an unusual fatigue had arisen, which gnawed at the foot to its very bones.
"Is it that one sole that you seek?" The kindred sole spoke in reply.
"Yes, oh yes," moaned the foot - foreseeing that the sole to whom it spoke would somehow deliver some undesirable news to it, yet not knowing what that news might in fact be - "pray, do tell me where I may find my good companion, for I am eager to engage it on yet another enjoyable adventure with me."
The kindred sole sat staring and listening quietly to the words of the foot. It did not immediately dish out a reply, but instead stared and stared in silence at the foot for a considerable amount of time.
Then, out of the blue, the sole broke out into a huge fit of laughter. The laughter was so loud and deep that it echoed all around them, and its sound extended even to the far ends of the distant lands.
The foot was now more frantic than ever. It felt its very muscles tense up, and yet it could only wait to discover if this kindred sole indeed would tell it where it could find its much missed sole mate. Its very toes grew pale and numb with anticipation and dread. It waited.
Finally, after awhile, the kindred sole regained its composure and offered the answer of which it had had with it all along, as to the whereabouts of the missing sole.
"It has gone on another trip," the kindred sole explained in a calm, soft tone (which the foot had trouble hearing now, since before this the kindred sole had laughed so very loud), "for another has set foot here, and successfully entreated your beloved sole to follow it on a journey to the faraway places which we can only glimpse at from our own mountain peaks."
The foot let out a little gasp of surprise, as it had not expected that the sole that it dearly loved would do such a thing as to embark on an adventure on its own, and with another foot, even. But there was nothing the foot could do. The foot was neither very strong nor fast, and could not possibly catch up with the sole in order to turn it back and convince the sole to instead follow it rather than the other foot.
"Oh... oh..." the foot cried out in pain, "then there is nothing I can do for now..."
The kindred sole looked pitifully at the foot.
"Why does it matter so much to you that this particular sole be with you in your adventures? Are there not other worthy soles that could easily match its capabilities? After all, any companion is better than none at all..."
The foot writhed in pain at the very words of the sole.
But then, even though with not too small a difficulty, it said:
"Many a sole may come and go, but only once does a foot find a sole which it is willing to call its mate."
The kindred sole guffawed.
"Ah, what a foot you are! But you do realise, I hope, that the one sole you deem a sole mate has indeed many other interests of its own, which have nothing whatsoever to do with you. Inasmuch as you have high regards for this one sole, I do caution you that your friend the sole is a free sole, and may not always go the way you go. In fact, this sole has its sights on dwelling in the distant lands. You may find yourself one day, my foot, to be quite alone in your undertakings -"
To these words, the foot cried out, "Enough, enough! I will no longer hear your grim forebodings! You do not speak truth! This sole which you speak of is close to me, and we have had many good times together! It cannot be that the sole would ever abandon me... not this sole mate..."
"Well, do not say that you have not been warned...." said the kindred sole in a quiet voice. "You hope too much on a free sole."
And with those words, the kindred sole moved away from the foot, leaving it to its own devices.
Now, the foot did something very silly. In its shock and frustration, it did not move from its spot where it has stood talking to the kindred sole before. This was in fact right in front of the dwelling place of its currently missing sole mate.
The foot could have gone on its adventure - with or without the sole - but the foot had grown so accustomed to having the sole around, that it felt the journey was not worth the trouble now that it would be making it on its own.
So the foot decided to wait where it was, for when the sole would return, so it could have a chat with the sole and sort out whether in fact what the kindred sole had said was true. But more than anything, the foot merely wanted to tell the sole how greatly it had been missed.
So the foot waited. And waited. And waited.
It tapped its toes in impatience, restlessness.
The night fell on the land where the foot was. It was cold, and the foot felt both sad and silly that it was out there in the dead of night without the warmth and company of its dear friend, the sole.
Finally, the sole showed up.
It was in a gay mood, as it had had a fantastic time over the many hours before. It shuffled along merrily, right up to the door of its dwellings, whistling a happy tune. Only just before it had gottten round to opening the door did the sole notice the presence of the now weary foot, which stood close by.
"Ah!" The foot exclaimed, suddenly filled with joy at the mere sight of the sole. "My dear sole, where have you been?"
"Oh, my foot! There you are! I have had the most wonderful of adventures. Do come in! Come in! I am just about to go in myself, and I will tell you all about it. Why, there were the tallest, greenest trees I have ever seen in my entire life..."
And with an ongoing flurry of words the sole went on incessantly about the tales of its recent journey. The foot, caught up in the joy of the moment, set itself obediently inside the home of the sole, and was soon taken in by the story which the sole was so animatedly sharing. It did not have any chance to put in a word about how much it had missed the sole, and how disappointed it had been and the pain it felt at being left behind. But the sole went on and on. And the foot did find the sole's stories rather intriguing, so much so that the foot soon forgave the sole for its careless abandonment of it.
'After all,' the foot thought to itself, 'it is good that the sole is here now. At the very least I can enjoy its company.'
Although the foot had been weary from its waiting, it listened as intently as it could to the sole's long tales.
The sole and the foot remained good friends for a much longer time afterward, and they embarked on many an adventure together. The foot was once again happy in the company of its sole mate, although occasionally it was overcome by a strange sadness whenever it suddenly recalled the words of the kindred sole that had been spoken to it:
"You hope too much on a free sole."
Then one day, as the foot was merrily skipping along with the sole, the sole suddenly spoke up and said, "My dear foot, I have some news for you. I am planning for a trip to the far-off places, and I will not return afterward."
The foot stopped dead in its tracks. Its every muscle was tensed and wrought with the most sickening of emotions. Again, the words of the kindred sole came to it, and it shuddered with the realisation that those words were in fact very much true of its sole mate.
"But... why-" The foot blurted out, but it could not bring itself to ask further what it had really meant to ask.
"Oh, for many reasons," the sole sang out gaily. "I have been there several times, and I think I would be happier there."
The foot writhed in its own pain, but upon hearing the sole say that it would be happier dwelling in a distant land, it did not try to coax the sole into staying.
'What use would it be?' Thought the foot to itself. 'After all, the sole has already set in its heart that it would want to go there. And if it will be happier there, why should I stop it from going?"
The sole had once again begun on one of its chatty moods, and talked incessantly in excitement about its plans to journey to its dream destination. The foot was sad that the sole was leaving, and even more so because the sole had not noticed how this news had greatly affected it.
At last, the foot blurted out, "But what about our adventures? Will you not want to journey together anymore?"
At these words, the sole stopped short in its conversation. For a moment, it looked thoughtful and gazed tenderly at the foot.
Then however, it said, "I do not know for certain if it's a good thing that we should continue to keep company with each other."
"But why is that?" The foot cried, very much astonished that the sole should say such things to it.
The sole did not offer much explanation but merely said, "I do not know."
And so more and more the foot found itself in a knot of pain. Yet despite all this, the foot still invited the sole to a few of its other adventures, as it knew it had only limited time left to spend with the sole it loved so dearly. The sole happily accepted each invitation, and it seemed to the foot that the sole did enjoy those adventures too. Nevertheless, there was a growing confusion for the foot on why the sole did not consider how greatly its planned departure would in fact affect the foot. But it was a free sole, and it appeared to be true - at least as far as the foot could see - that the words of the kindred sole were right after all.
So finally the day came for the sole to depart. The foot stood by as the sole gathered its things and motioned to leave in the direction of faraway worlds that would soon separate the foot from its beloved sole mate. The sole was again in a fit of immense excitement, and in its hurry to leave, did not even look back to say a proper goodbye to the foot as it trotted off in the company of another foot who would carry it to its new home.
So the foot stood watching as the sole made its exit. The foot's toes felt cold and numb as a sudden gust of wind blew upon it. It felt alone. It felt sorry for itself. It remained limp and idle for the longest time, and contemplated if ever it should embark on another adventure again. Or if it should ever want the company of other soles for such journeys.
What became of the foot we cannot really know, for the foot, in its downtrodden state, retreated into an obscure place to seek for itself what new things it might do.
The sole, on the other hand, became more and more famous in its comfy corner of the faraway lands, and found company in many feet who wanted very much to associate with an outstanding sole such as it.
And as is the common knowledge these days, soles are forever free, but feet can only but stand alone.
