There once was a princess who lived in a lovely castle surrounded by a beautiful garden. As the Princess grew up she would go out into the garden to play, to do her lessons, to think when she was contemplative, to sing when she was joyful, to cry when she was sad...she did everything out in the garden. Now, over the garden walls the people of the surrounding world could see the princess and many of the young princes of the world heard of her beauty and came to look at the Princess, and they couldnt help but fall in love with her...afterall, along with her beauty, she seemed so open and honest and therefore she was easy to get to know! They watched, and loved it when she laughed, they loved it when she sang, they even loved it when she cried...so one by one the young princes sent her roses...
At first the Princess was just suprised that anyone would send her roses, but...she liked roses quite a bit, and so she stopped being suprised and just started planting the roses.
So she watched with great delight as they grew around her...but as they grew ,she saw that some of them had little black spots on them...or they had big thorns that scratched her when she got close...or they flourished with beautiful blooms only to wither and fad in only a few days. This made the Princess sad, and she turned to the maidens that waited on her and complained about her roses.
"My roses have black spot!"
"My roses have big thorns that scratch!"
"My roses fade more quickly than any other rose!"
The maidens were kind and did the best they could to encourage their princess...
Some told her that the black spot would surely go away if she tended the rose more carefully...
Some told her that if she stood far enough away from the thorny roses and then leaned in to smell them, she wouldnt get scratched...
Some told her that if she watered the roses more, they wouldnt fade quite so quickly....
So the Princess, pulled herself together and began working harder on her rose garden, afterall, she felt like people were beginning to talk...they were surely saying that she didnt APPRECIATE these beautiful rose gifts that the princes gave her...that she was being TOO PICKY....
One day as she was tending her rose garden to no avail she looked up over the wall of her castle and she saw, high up on a hill there was a garden and in the garden, a rose bush...and it looked Beautiful. As beautiful as a rose bush could look...from where she stood it looked like it didnt have any black spots, in fact....it looked like it didnt have anythorns at all! And that all the roses were perfect, and that none of the blossoms had faded...
For days the Princess would go out into her garden with the pretense of tending her own roses, but instead she would stand and gaze at the hill, at the garden and most of all, the Perfect Roses. Finally, after many days, the maidens that tended the princess came to her and asked her why she wasnt speaking of her roses anymore, she wasnt even complaining about their many many flaws.
"Why, I have lost interest in all roses...except for that rose way up on the hill!"
And sure enough, the maidens followed the Princess's pointing finger and they saw the hill, and the garden...and finally they saw the Perfect Rose.
The maidens loved their princess and wanted her to be happy, so they sent out messengers to find out who owned the rose that was in the garden on the hill. For they knew their Princess would not be happy without that Rose.
After many days of searching and questioning, the messengers finally found the Prince who owned the hill and owned the garden and more importantly owned the Perfect Rose.
So, the maidens immediately went before the Prince to ask if their dear princess could have the roses...
After hearing their story and their pleas of how their princess thought of nothing else, the Prince looked long and hard at the maidens.
Finally, he spoke. He explained to the maidens that he could not give the princess his roses because she would surely be disappointed.
'Why ever not?!" exclaimed the maidens, "Your roses are PERFECT, they dont have black spots, they dont have thorns and they dont fade after a few days!!!"
The Prince laughed and motioned the maidens to follow him up the hill, into the garden and finally to stand before his Perfect Roses. It was then that the maidens GASPED, for they couldnt believe their eyes...
For on the Perfect Rose, they could see a few black spots and there were definitely some thorns hidden under the leaves...and sure enough many of the blossoms had faded...
The Prince smiled a sad smile and said, "It is up to the Princess, she can either stay in her little garden and admire the Perfect Rose from a far or she can up onto my hill, and into my garden and love this rose...even though she will find that it is not as perfect as she once thought."
The maidens stepped away from the Perfect Rose, went out of the garden, and ran down the hill...to tell this important news to their Princess.....
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