There once was a woman who walked a dirt, circular path, and she walked it so many times that the path became a rut. After many months and years, she wanted to leave the rut, but each step she took kept deepening it. Distraught, the woman began to wail as she walked, so desperate was her desire to leave and yet every movement she knew how to take sent her around again.

One day, a second woman heard the wailing and discovered the first woman. “Help me!” The first woman cried. “I’m trapped! Any step I take sends me around again!”

The second woman replied, “Every step forward, yes. Try taking a sidestep.”

“I can’t! I don’t know how, and it’s impossible with this rut!” She then demanded that the second woman leave her alone, and the first woman continued to walk in the rut.

© Meisaan Chan