Fashion Forest

Once upon a time, there was a forest where all the animals lived happily together. One day a family went to spend the day in the countryside, and one little boy left his socks there. Soon after the family left, a racoon came by, found the socks, and decided to try them on. They fit so well, and he liked them so much, that he wouldn't take them off. He spent his days walking through the forest in his new socks.

All the animals talked about the racoon's new look, and some of them were a bit envious that he was getting so much attention. Before long, in that forest, there began appearing squirrels in shirts, rabbits in boots, moles with hats on, and even a bird wearing underpants!

Doctor Bear, the forest physician, would shake his head, telling people:

-"This can't be good. Animals don't wear clothes; we don't need them."

But no one listened to him, they said he was just old-fashioned, and ignorant of the latest trends.

However, it wasn't long before the first consequences of fashion-fever began to take effect. Several times the squirrel snagged his shirt on tree bark, stopping him in mid-leap, and sending him plummeting to the ground from a great height. The mole tried to fit into his hole without first taking his hat off. He was stuck in that hole all day. One of the birds got in a tangle with the clothes it was wearing, and had to make a crash-landing on some thistles, getting stuck full of thorns. Even the racoon, thanks to his brightly coloured socks, slipped from one of the river rocks and almost drowned.

When the casualties came to see Doctor Bear, he gave them all the same prescription:

-"Off with you, and get rid of those clothes, because one day they’re going to kill you."

Those who listened to the Doctor's advice stopped having accidents. And the animals realised that they didn't need clothes at all. Starting to wear them had been very silly, and they had only done it to make others envious of them, and to get attention.

We often end up doing stupid things just to imitate others or to make others envious