A fallen leaf

In the thin, crisp air, there was an Angel flying high with a flower from the garden in the sky. As she was kissing the flower, a small petal fell to the damp ground in the woods. This petal immediately took root and sprouted up among many other plants.

"That's a very funny plug." The other plants said. Neither the thistle nor the nettle recognized it.

"This must be one of those plants that grow in gardens!" They said, and gave a sneer. They thought it was a garden plant and made jokes about it. But it was different from other plants; it was growing constantly; it stretched its long branches out in all directions.

"What are you reaching for?" The tall thistle said. Each of its leaves was covered with thorns. "You take up too much space! This is outrageous! We can't support you!"

Winter came; the snow covered the plants. But the snow layer emitted light as if the sun was shining up from underneath. In the springtime the plant blossomed; it was more beautiful than any other plant in the woods.

At this time came a professor of botany. He had many degrees to show for what he was. He glanced at the plant and examined it; but he found no such thing within his system of plants. He simply had no way to classify it.

"It is a variant!" He said. "I don't recognize it, it doesn't belong to any family!"

"It doesn't belong to any family!" Thistle and nettle said.

Many of the big trees around heard these words. They too could see that this plant did not belong to their system. But they don't say anything - not bad words or good words. For fools, this is a most clever approach.

At that moment there was a poor, innocent girl walking through the woods. Her heart was pure; and because she had faith, she had a good understanding. All she had was a very old Bible, but she heard God's voice on every page: If someone wants to do bad things to you, remember the story of Joseph - "They think bad things in their hearts, but God turns them into the best things. " If you are wronged, misunderstood or insulted, you have only to remember God: He is a most pure and good person. He prayed for those who mocked Him and crucified Him: "Father, forgive them, they do not know what they are doing to themselves!"

The girl stood before this rare plant - its green leaves emitting a sweet and fresh fragrance, its flowers shooting out in the sunlight with a colorful fireworks-like glow. Each flower emitted a kind of music, as if it contained a spring of music that could not be exhausted for thousands of years. The girl looked with reverence at these beautiful creations of the Creator. She pulled a branch with her hand, looked at the flowers on it, and smelled the fragrance of these flowers. Her heart relaxed and she felt a sense of pleasure. She wanted to pluck a flower, but she could not bear to break it, for the flower would then wither. She just plucked a green leaf. She brought it home and stuck it in the Bible. The leaf remained fresh in this book forever and never withered.

The leaf was thus hidden in the Bible. A few weeks later, as the girl lay in the coffin, the Bible was under her head. Her quiet face wore an expression of solemn, post-mortem piety, as if this earthly shell of hers indicated that she was now in the presence of God.

But the strange plant was still in bloom in the woods. It will soon grow into a tree. Many migratory birds, especially storks and swallows, fly here and bow their heads in homage before it.

"This thing is already a bit foreign!" said the thistle and burdock. "We plants that grow in this country never look like this!"

The black snail had actually been spitting mucus on the plant.

That's when a pig farmer arrived. He was gathering nettles and vines with the aim of burning them to make a little ash. This exotic plant was also uprooted and tied in a bundle of firewood. "And so it can be of some use!" he said, and at the same time he did so.

But the monarch of the country had been very ill with melancholy for many years. He was very busy and thrifty, but this did not help his illness. People read to him from deep books, or from the lightest reading in the world, but this did not help his illness either. The people asked for advice from one of the wisest men in the world, and this man sent a messenger. The messenger said to the people that there was now only one remedy for alleviating and curing the king's illness. "In the king's territory there grew in a grove a plant from heaven. Its shape is such and such that one can never be mistaken." There is also an illustration of this plant here, which anyone who looks at it can recognize. "It is green in winter and summer. One has only to pick a fresh leaf every night and put it on the king's forehead, then the king's mind will become fresh, he will have beautiful dreams at night, and he will be refreshed the next day."

This instruction was clear enough. All the doctors and that professor of botany went to the woods-yes, but where was this plant?

"I think I've tied it into a bundle of firewood!" said the pig farmer, "it has long since burned to ashes. I don't know about anything else!"

"You don't know!" Everyone said in unison. "Ah, folly! O folly! How great you are!"

The pig farmer probably felt very sad to hear this, for it was told exclusively to him alone.

They did not find even one leaf. The only leaf was hidden in the coffin of the dead girl, and no one knew about it.

So the king himself went to that spot in the woods in great melancholy.

"That plant used to grow here!" He said. "This is a sacred place!"

So a golden fence was erected around this spot. A sentry stood guard here day and night.

The professor of botany wrote a paper on this heavenly plant. He received a medal for this thesis. It was a very pleasant thing for him, and very appropriate for him and his family. In fact, this is the most interesting part of the whole story, because the plant disappeared. The king is still melancholy and depressed.

"But he always was." The sentry said.