A scholar who used to live in a cold region took a trip to a place oftropical weather. He stayed in the house all day because it was too hot to go out. "Phew. It is so hot. I can't even go outside."

　　At night, people came out from their houses to get fresh air. The scholar also went out of his house and looked around here and there. "There are a lot of people here. Now I feel better. But how come the house across the street is so quiet?"

　　"Music flows from the house, and such beautiful flowers are in the house. There must be aprettywoman living in that house. "Then, one evening.

　　"That house is quiet again. The only thing that moves in the house is my shadow." The scholar acted as if he was talking to his own shadow.

　　Suddenly, his shadow on the house went into the inside the house. The scholar was shocked. Then, the next day. "How can I lose my own shadow? People will laugh at me. Phew. What am I going to do? I feel awful. What am I going to do now?"

　　In a tropical region, everything grew really fast. Fortunately, the scholar's shadow grew a lot in a week.

　　Then, one evening. Someone visited the scholar. "Who is it? Please come in." A well-dressed gentleman came into his house. "Excuse me, but have we meet before?" The gentleman answered. "Don't you recognize me? Well, I guess you've never imagined that I would show up in front of you with this kind of look. I have been enjoying my own life very much since I left you." "Then, you must be." "That's right! I am your shadow." "How amazing! How can this happen? And how are you doing?"

　　"I will tell you everything. But promise me one thing before I tell my story. Don't you ever tell anyone that I used to be your shadow." "I promise!"

　　"I went into the house across the street and met a Goddess. I learned a lot of things while I was staying there with her. Then, she allowed me to live my own life all by myself. Sometimes I gave severe punishments to bad people. People always welcomed me wherever I was. They just loved me." "Really? That's amazing! How can this happen?" "I've to go now. See you next time."

　　A few years later, the shadow visited the scholar again. The scholar was writing a book, but he was so sad because no one read his book. He felt tired of writing. "You look very exhausted." "No one can understand my book." "You have to take a rest. Let's go to a spa. I will pay for the trip for you. Instead, you should be my shadow." "Oh god! Do I really have to be your shadow?" After long thinking about the shadow's suggestion, the scholar decided to go on the trip and be a shadow.

　　There were lots of people in the spa, and a princess was one of them. The princess saw the shadow and thought, "He is so nice. I want to go out with him."

　　She met the shadow. She liked him very much because he knew everything. The shadow pointed to the scholar and said, "He is my shadow. If you want to know about something, please ask him." "You look so smart."

　　The princess decided to get married to the shadow.

　　The shadow met the scholar and said, "I am going to marry the princess. You can come to the castle and live with us. But you have to be my shadow and have to live under my feet forever." "No, that doesn't make any sense. You are MY shadow."

　　The shadow put the scholar in prison, and then he told the princess. "My shadow is out of his mind. He kept insisting that I am his shadow. There seems to be no chance of his recovery. I will help him to disappear quietly." "Yes, you need to help him."

　　The princess and the shadow finally got married. But the scholar died in prison. Whatever comes your way, don't forget to keep your self-esteem.

　　單詞注釋：

　　tropicaladj. 熱帶的;熱情的;酷熱的

　　prettyadj. 漂亮的;可愛的;優美的

　　例句：The conditions are pretty desperate for people, particularly in these early stages.

　　情況對人們來說是相當令人絕望的，特別在早期。

　　severeadj. 嚴厲的;苛刻的;劇烈的;嚴峻的

　　例句：A last question is how severe the terrorist threat remains in Britain.

　　最后一個問題是英國的恐怖主義者威脅有多嚴重。

　　exhaustedadj. 耗盡的;疲憊的

　　recovery n. 恢復，復原;痊愈;重獲

　　例句：Much of the recovery reflects the laws of physics.

　　復蘇在很大程度上反映出物理學定律。