Boots to Grow Into and Sense for Later

One guest was telling us about his neighbor - the kind of man who spent three days getting ready for the fair. Counted his money twice. Measured his foot with a piece of string. Promised his wife he'd be back by supper with new boots. She, a wise woman, said: fine. And put the supper on the stove. Because she knew her husband.

At the fair he found the boots right away. Black, gleaming, leather that fairly sang. One trouble - a size too small. The seller says: too small. The man says: they'll stretch. The seller says: the leather's good, but it isn't rubber. The man looked at the price, looked at the boots, and decided the seller simply didn't understand leather.

He came home on time, brought the boots, pulled them on in front of his wife - so she'd see. He walked around the house looking like a man who'd won an argument with himself. His wife watched in silence. He walked. Then he walked some more. Then he sat down and said he was a little tired. She asks: tired from what, you haven't set foot past the threshold? He says: from thinking.

In the morning he got up, pulled the boots on once more - and went back to the fair. The seller spotted him from a distance and wasn't even surprised. Says: stretched, did they? The man says: I've simply changed my mind, take them back. The seller looked the boots over, scratched the back of his head and says: take them back I will. But the leather's softer now - so the price stays the same. The goods have improved.

That neighbor took the boots again. Says they fit like they were born on him now. His wife says he's simply learned to walk a little on tiptoe, and even his posture is better for it. He doesn't argue. Sometimes a man doesn't change his decision - he just gives it a little time to get used to him on its own.