Socks Party!

Some people say that the millipede is lazy.
Is it? I am not very sure. You decide after reading the story.

Millipede loves wearing colourful socks. As it has many legs, each foot has a different colour sock, ranging from red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet and indigo, just like a rainbow. They look light, comfortable and beautiful on his feet. Sometimes, he seems to be walking on air.

Yes, everything looks so pretty. But be warned. Millipede does not like to wash those socks as he finds them troublesome. To clean the socks, he has to first soak them and apply soap. Next, he needs to rub and rub, and finally, rinse the socks in clean water.

Millipede has one hundred feet with one sock each. That means he has to repeat the above one hundred times. “Oh man, that will take me a very long time. I will be so tired after that.” Millipede sighed. He thought of a way so that he does not need to keep washing socks. That is to buy a lot of socks! When they get dirty, he can simply change them to a new one.

And so, he did. He bought a lot of socks at once. Each time he changes the dirty socks, he will dump them under the bed. In no time, piles of dirty socks were stacked under the millipede’s bed. The dirty socks became so stinky. As it gets accumulated, the stench became stronger and stronger. Everyone who walks past the millipede’s house covered their nose.

Eventually, no one is willing to come near to his house to play.
The dirty socks were building up in the house. Soon, there was no more space to store them. Millipede finally had no choice but to wash the socks and make space in his home instead of getting new ones.

“Hmm, today looks like a good day to wash my socks.” Millipede looked out of the window and thought to himself. He packed the socks into baskets and trotted on towards the nearby river.

Wash, scrub, rinse. The flowers and grasses alongside the river could not bear the foul smell and said: “Millipede, please don’t wash so many dirty socks all at once. It’s too stinky!”

Wash, scrub, rinse. The fishes, shrimp and frogs in the river complained: “Oh gosh. What is this horrible smell in the water? “Millipede was embarrassed but continued washing anyway.

After washing, the socks were hung on a string in the orchard to dry. Millipede counted them, one, two, three…..one hundred, one thousand! What a sight! The entire orchard was decorated with colourful socks hanging like ornaments fluttering in the wind.

He decided to rest on the orchard to admire the lovely scenery. Slowly, he dozed off and fell asleep. Just then, a little badger who was selling cookies pushed his cart past the orchard. The vibrant sock colours caught his attention, and he was blown away by how beautiful they were.

“What wonderful scenery. It will be a waste if no one sees this.” The little badger decided to set up his pushcart, hoping it will draw more crowds.
Shortly after, a musician orangutan was marching near the orchard and could smell the sweet scent of the freshly baked cookies. He tried to find where the fragrance came from, leading him to the dazzling socks and cookie pushcart. He was impressed and took out his guitar to perform.

Soon, the music and the cookie smell attracted the attention of the entire forest. The curious animals gathered around the orchard to enjoy the ambience. The orchard became a pleasant and lively place unexpectedly!
All the bustling sounds awaken millipede.

He was surprised by the vast crowd congregating in the woods and wondered what was happening. When he realised that his socks decoration had created this party, he was delighted as he did not expect his small action to have such an impact. From then on, the millipede wash his socks every month so the animals can enjoy themselves at the socks party!

The End.