Journal #42

There once was a boy named Poe.  Poe lived a great life with a great family.  He lived in a little cottage with his 2 sisters and one brother.  He also had a mother and father that loved their children deeply.  The family was known through out the land for their strong relationship.  They all lived in peace.  That was until one fateful day that Poe decided he was not content living in his little cottage with his perfect family.  He decided that this life was not perfect enough for him.  He wanted to achieve some sort of heroic perfection.  So Poe set out.  He began training himself as a hero.  He learned all sorts of trades, such as sailing, smithing, fencing, cooking, climbing, sewing, and many more.  Poe became what many would consider the perfect man, except for one thing.  Poe lacked the looks.  Poe was tall and muscular from the years of training himself, but his face just was not quite right.  He had a sort of lopsided face that made it appear as if he was always looking off to the side; his eyes tended to look as if one was higher than the other and took on a muddy brown color through the day.  Poe did have some pretty great teeth, straight and white!  That never seemed to matter when you began to inspect his thin blonde hair.  At the age of 24, Poe was already beginning to bald.  Poe had it all, it just didn't look like it.  Poe would not accept perfection until he was able to be perfect as well as look perfect, too.  A few days after he had decided he needed to achieve the perfect looks, Poe stumbled upon an old women in the woods while chopping down trees for firewood.  This women knew what Poe seeked and told him exactly what he had to do.  In order to gain the perfect looks to compliment his perfect ability, he had to help someone achieve their own dreams first.  Poe scoffed at the proposal originally, but after further contemplation realized that it was a pretty good deal.  Poe really did know a lot about many many different things, and knew that it wouldn't be hard to help someone attain the ability and needs to find success in their own dreams.  He set out to find someone.  Poe lived in a very poor land that was very unfortunate, so it didn't take long to stumble upon someone.  Her name was Annie.  All she wanted in life was to learn to ride an elephant, and of course Poe had learned to ride elephants years ago, along with giraffes.  After learning that Annie could never attain what she needed to learn to ride an elephant by herself, Poe approached her with is proposal.  At first she was hesitant, but after further inspection, she could see nothing wrong with Poe.  He seemed harmless.  The one thing holding her back was the question why?  Why would a stranger want to help her?  She decided she would find out later.  The next day they found a wild elephant and over the next few hours, Poe taught Annie all he knew.  By twilight that night, Annie was an absolute elephant pro.  By the next day, Poe was the most magnificent looking man in all the land.  Annie never saw Poe again and never learned of his motives.  Poe never saw Annie again nor cared to.  He married a women just as shallow as himself, and they lived self-absorbed-ly ever after.