In
a garden filled with bushes, out from between a load of grass and weeds, there
appeared, as if from nowhere, a white rose. It was as white as driven snow, its
petals looked like velvet, and the morning dew shone from its leaves like
resplendent crystals. The flower couldn’t see herself, so she had no idea how
pretty she was. And so it was that she spent the few days of her life, until
wilting set on, without knowing that all around her were amazed by her and her
perfection: her perfume, the softness of her petals, her elegance.
She
didn’t realise that everyone who saw her spoke well of her. The weeds that
surrounded her were fascinated by her beauty, and lived in a state of
enchantment at her aroma and appearance.
One
hot, sunny day, a girl was strolling through the garden, thinking about how
many lovely things Mother Nature has given us, when she suddenly saw a white
rose in a forgotten part of the garden. The rose was beginning to fade and
wilt.
-“It’s
days since it rained,”
she
thought,
-“if
the rose stays here till tomorrow it'll be totally withered. I’ll take it home
and put it in the lovely vase I got as a present.”
And
so she did. With all her love she put the wilting white rose in water, inside a
lovely colourful glass vase, and placed it by the window.
-"I'll
put it here,"
she
thought,
-"so
the flower can get some sun."
What
the young girl didn’t realise was that the reflection from the window meant
that, for the first time, the rose got to see herself and what she looked like.
-“Is
that me?”
thought
the rose. Little by little her drooping leaves began to rise, once again
stretching up towards the sun, and, gradually, the rose recovered her former
appearance. When she was totally
back to her best she looked at her reflection and saw that she was indeed a
beautiful flower. She thought
-"Wow!
Till now I hadn’t realised who I was, how could I have been so blind?”
The
rose came to realise she had spent her days without appreciating her beauty,
unable to see herself, unable to know who she really was.
