In a small, cozy town, there lived a man named Alex who loved to tell stories about others. He enjoyed making his friends laugh with his tales, even if he sometimes made them a bit more exciting than they really were. Alex was a nice man, but he had a problem: he talked too much about other people.
One day, a shopkeeper named David was in a hurry to open his shop. However, in a rush that morning, he accidentally put on a pair of trousers that were far too big for him and forgot to wear a belt. As he walked through the town square, right in front of Alex, his trousers began to slip down. Trying to juggle his briefcase and papers, he couldn't catch them in time, and they fell to his ankles, causing David to fall down with his polka-dotted underwear showing. The sight was so unexpected and funny that Alex burst into laughter.
Alex couldn't wait to tell his friends, and soon, everyone in town knew the story. Eventually, people started calling the shop owner "Polka-dot David." David was very upset and went to the wise town rabbi for help.
The rabbi heard about what Alex did and called him to the rabbi's house. The rabbi told Alex how his story made David embarrassed. Alex looked at David who's face was flowing with tears. Alex felt sorry when he saw how sad his story had made the shop owner.
"I just wanted to share something interesting," Alex said sadly to the rabbi.
The rabbi shook his head and said, "It doesn't matter if it was true. Sharing stories like this can hurt people, just like you hurt David."
The man asked, "What can I do to fix this?"
The rabbi asked him if he had any feather pillows at home. The man was confused but said yes, and ran to his house and came back with a feather pillow. The rabbi told him to cut it open and shake it out, and feathers flew everywhere – in the room, out the window, down the street, and all over!
After emptying the entire pillow, Alex asked, "Now what do I do rabbi? Feathers are everywhere!"
"Now, try to put all the feathers back into the pillow," said the rabbi.
Alex looked at the rabbi, then looked at the feathers. He looked out the window and saw the wind blowing feathers all over, into other people's homes, into the river, and up into the sky. Alex's eyes widened, "But Rabbi, that's impossible! The feathers have gone everywhere!"
"That's right," the rabbi nodded. "Just like your stories. Once you tell them, you can't take them back."
The rabbi told the Alex to say sorry to the shop owner and to everyone he told the story to. He might not be able to collect all the feathers, but he could at least try to fix the damage he caused. The rabbi also asked Alex to come back every day and learn more about why it's not good to share stories about others.
Alex did as the rabbi said. He learned a lot and started using his stories to make people feel good, not upset. He became known as a kind man who knew the importance of being careful with his words. And from then on, he reminded his friends to think before they shared stories about others.
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