A Tale of Love and Humanity

The Resurrection Flower | Humanity and the Red Flower

There was a lovely Russian fairy tale I remember as a child. It might have been a form of ''Beauty and the Beast'' found in Western fairy-tale books. The picture and I were fonder of this Russian tale than the original. As I recall, the story is like this.

Once there lived a rich merchant in a city. Before he leaves, he calls all three of his daughters and asks them what gifts he should bring back from the journey. The oldest daughter asks for a crown of gold. The second is a crystal mirror of great value. My favorite plotline: The youngest daughter, unlike the two before her, requests a red flower, the most beautiful one that blooms on the earth, for her father to bring to her.!

The next part of the tale concerns the merchant and the youngest daughter and their quest for this red bloom. That story, in fact is still very relevant today as it symbolically narrates a large-scale challenge that we are facing today.

In the story, the merchant discovers the most beautiful red flower in the world in the garden of a big, deserted mansion owned by a mysterious man, the Beast of Western fairy tales. He plucks the red flower that blooms in a mound there, and the Beast manifests before him and demands reparations for the offense he has committed by taking his flower from a garden to which he was never invited. The prize is that one of the merchant’s three daughters becomes his companion. Otherwise, the merchant pays for it with his life.

So the third of the three daughters agrees to save her father's life and to go live with the Beast to keep his promise. It is she who requested a red flower.

The other half of the story focuses on how the courageous young girl who lives in the castle of the unseen monster slowly cultivates goodness and companionship with the monster. She embodies honesty and the greatest of humanity. She understands the beast. She even orders him to come stand before her in his true form. But the beast is saddened that she fears his terrifying appearance. The beast, who gives her all things and comforts in his palace, comes and goes periodically, remaining with her invisibly, caring for her as if she is a flower.

For the latter half of the story, the beauty begs the beast to let her go home to her father. That permission is granted by the beast, who loves her so much that he agrees on the condition he will return in a set time.

No Wonder The Pretty Young Girl Who Returns Home The Next Day Is Not Able To Return On The Scheduled Day Finally, she is late, but sees the Beast dead at the base of the mound where the flower once bloomed!

That is when Beauty discovers she is devotedly in love with the ugly Beast. She calls for love with him and embraces his body.

And, in a surprise ending, the Beast turns into a handsome prince, and the story is done! The prince, who says he was cursed by an evil witch in ages long past, explains to Beauty that the witch had decreed that he could only be freed from the curse one day if he found true love. Ultimately, the beautiful prince and Beauty marry.!

What does this story tell us? Isn't it through truthfulness, love and humanity that this world of beast nature can be made to return to human nature? I believe that is what the symbolic conclusion of the story tells us.

That story has even more to tell us.

In the world we live, the people who look for materialistic, material values, crowns, and crystal mirrors the are few, but those who look for spiritual values, who come from the beautiful red flower are veryrare. Such a person is extremely rare who has heart humanity, honesty, and truthfulness. And yet in this world where even the last hope for humanity is losing its light, in the mansion of the beast where humanity has been systematically buried, and for this reason it is hard to find those who sympathize with humanity as a whole and live on with unwavering determination. It is a hard challenge which not everyone can do. That clichéd challenge requires an insatiable self-confidence, courage, intelligence and patience to overcome.

One such person is the merchant’s youngest daughter in the story. With kindness, compassion, and understanding, he teases out the invisible man living in the beast. If she has the power to look beyond the physical, the beast has humanity through her unconditional love and patience! Her loving humanity is more powerful than a witch's curse.!

I wrote here last week that sometimes the experiences we have as children give us the strength to overcome some of the hardest things in life.

That story of the red flower taught me such a lesson.

I still have faith in the merchant's youngest daughter. I bow to the power of her highest humanity that made impotent the curses of the witches.!

Because I think it is with that power that many challenges can be overcome.!