“Everywhere,” he vowed, “I’ll take each path, cross every valley, climb the mountains, ford the streams. I’ll walk the Earth until I’ve seen it all.”
There was nowhere so humble, drab or indistinct that didn’t make the list. No street too dangerous for him, no bridge too far.
One day he passed a hermit sitting by a tree. “Where do you go?” the monk asked.
“I walk the world,” the man replied.
“Why?”
“What else is there to do?”
“Of course, I should have known.” The monk smiled in recognition, but frowned in sorrow as the man walked on.