The Boy Who Wore Fading Yellow Overalls With Five and a Half

Holes and a Purple Baseball Cap

There once was a boy who wore fading yellow overalls and a purple baseball

cap every day. Due to the fact that clothes wear out after over usage—a fact

we all wish was not so—the yellow overalls formed five and a half holes.

Many little boys and little girls teased the boy who wore fading yellow

overalls with five and a half holes and a purple baseball cap for very sensible

reasons. Firstly, overalls with six holes exactly were the style favored at the

time by little children—not overalls with five and a half holes.

The purple cap, too, brought other little children to mock the little boy

who wore fading yellow overalls with five and a half holes and a purple

baseball cap. Of course, purple caps were in style at the time, but little boys

and little girls wore cowboy hats, rather than baseball caps.

So, the boy who wore fading yellow overalls with five and a half holes and a

purple baseball cap learned to ignore the churlish jeers from his peers.

Instead of wallowing in his rejection, he spent his time painting. Every day

the boy who wore fading yellow overalls with five and a half holes and a

purple baseball cap would produce a beautiful painting with vibrant colors

and perfect shapes. He sold his art at fairs, it was put in galleries, and many

little boys and little girls soon became very jealous of boy who wore fading

yellow overalls with five and a half holes and a purple baseball cap’s

apparent skill.
 Only a short time after the boy who wore fading yellow overalls with

five and a half holes and a purple baseball cap’s massive success, little

children started being nice to him. They also started asking him, “What is the

secret to your success?” Each and every one was given the answer, “If a

magician never reveals his secrets, then an artist never reveals his

techniques.” However, the boy who wore fading yellow

overalls with five and a half holes and a purple baseball cap was bombarded

with this question many times over and over, for everyone hoped he would

tell them. Each time, though, he gave them the same shake of his head and

answer. Over a time, no one liked any art but that of the boy who wore

fading yellow overalls with five and a half holes and a purple baseball cap.

Children put on fake smiles and pretended to like the boy who wore fading

yellow overalls with five and a half holes and a purple baseball cap’s strange

sense of style. They all wanted to be able to paint as skillfully as the boy who

wore fading yellow overalls with five and a half holes and a purple baseball

cap, and they all thought they could if they discovered his secret.

Seeing how greedy people became for his talent, the boy who wore

fading yellow overalls with five and a half holes and a purple baseball cap

found a way he could help them. As soon as he realized this, he sent a letter

to the whole world that said,

i believe it is so.
 Most of the little boys and little girls were utterly confused by his

strange words, so they gave up on trying to become exceptional artists. A

few little boys and little girls, though, figured out the secret. Aha! I must

believe that I am a good artist to be one! I must simply convince myself that

I can be a great artist and BAM! I’ll be as good as boy who wore fading

yellow overalls with five and a half holes and a purple baseball cap! These

few children believed they could fabricate works of art as beautiful as the

boy who wore fading yellow overalls with five and a half holes and a purple

baseball cap’s art. They did end up able to paint wonderful works of art

because they had solved The Secret on their own. Art became cherished

around the world, and everyone was able to purchase a work for him- or

herself, and all was happy.

The next season everyone wanted to wear fading yellow overalls with

five and a half holes and purple baseball caps.