The God With One Slipper

The God With One Slipper

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He was known to the town’s people as the Sunday Boy. Not because he was born on the first day of the week. Not because he sang in the church choir. Humphrey was called as the Sunday Boy simply because he lived his life by a single principle.

If your Sunday goes well, all is well for the rest of the week.

His parents never understood why. They couldn’t understand the optimism of their smallest offspring. In the past eight years, they had paid little attention to him since his three elder brothers took up most of their time. His poor parents felt guilty. Overwhelmingly guilty. Because one morning, when Humphrey skipped downstairs, they noticed the hand-me-downs that he wore. The faded, red sweater of his third brother. The creased, gray shorts of his second brother. And the blue, old beret of his eldest brother.

Much to his parent’s guilt, he never once complained about it. Humphrey always had that cheerful smile on his face. It was as if he’d still keep smiling even if the entire world came crashing down.

So, the proud parents decided to reward their youngest son. They saved their earnings for a week and got him a brand new pair of shoes. Those shoes were very special since they had a sparkling silver buckle, rare among its kind. Eight-year-old Humphrey now had something to call his very own. He hopped around the house ecstatically before the self-pleased parents finally nudged him off to school.

The morning morphed into a rainy afternoon. Humphrey was returning home from school, when he stopped at the edge of a stream flowing across the road. The water having leaked from a broken pipeline swooshed against the mortar and gushed to the sides.

Humphrey saw a man dressed in white robes. He was standing with one foot grounded on the pavement and the other missing a slipper. He seemed distressed. The white robed man turned his attention to the little boy and noticed his shoes.

“Ah, do you mind lending me one of those?” he asked politely.

“You mean my shoes?” Humphrey echoed.

“Yes, yes. I can’t cross this stream with one slipper. I seem to have lost the other one somehow.”

Humphrey smiled and bent forward. He took off one shoe and passed it to the white-robed man. “Will it fit you?” he asked, curious.

The man tried it on and it fit him perfectly, much to Humphrey’s astonishment. Before the boy could blink, the man was gone. He’d disappeared into thin air.

Humphrey returned home, crestfallen. His parents were even more troubled to find their son returning home soaking wet and wearing only half a pair. Disappointed and angry at his carelessness, they sent him off to bed without supper.

The next day, the family awoke to the sound of a loud clatter. They rushed down to find the missing shoe on the dinner table.

It had turned to gold. Not just the buckle, but the entire shoe.

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