There was a young man named Alex. In his town, people walked in a very ordinary way. Just step, step, step. One day, Alex heard exciting news about a faraway city called Handan. People said, "Oh, the folks in Handan! They walk so beautifully, like dancers on a stage!"

Alex thought, "My walk is so plain! I must go to Handan and learn their special, fancy walk!" So, he packed a small bag and set off on a long journey to Handan.

When Alex finally reached Handan, his eyes grew big and round. Wow! The people there didn't just walk; they seemed to float and sway. Their steps were so smooth and graceful.

Alex decided he would learn their walk. He watched a person glide by. "Okay," he thought, "they lift their foot like *this*, and swing their arm like *that*." He tried to copy them. But... wibble-wobble... he nearly fell over.

He watched another person. "Maybe if I tilt my head and point my toes?" he wondered. He tried again. Stumble, stumble, oof!

For days, Alex tried and tried. He focused so hard on how the Handan people walked. But a strange thing happened. The more Alex tried to learn the new Handan walk, the more muddled he became. He thought so much about their special steps that he completely forgot his *own* way of walking!

His brain felt like a tangled ball of string. "Do I put my left foot first, or my right? Do I swing my arms high or low?" he puzzled.

Poor Alex! He couldn't do the fancy Handan walk, and now he couldn't even remember his old, simple walk. When he tried to take a step, his legs felt like wobbly noodles.

In the end, the only way Alex could move was to get down on his hands and knees. And that's how he had to crawl all the way back home to his own town, looking rather silly indeed.

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