decendentofthedragons:

The Most Beautiful Woman in the World

Russian Folk Tale

      One day during harvest time, a little girl got separated from her mother. She was crying her eyes out, shouting out for her. People felt sorry for her and tried to help. Everyone started asking her what her mother’s name was, how she looked like, what she was wearing, plus a dozen other questions as well. Understandably, this was pretty overwhelming for the little girl. This made her sob even more. Finally, in response to their questions, she managed to blurt out, “My mother is the most beautiful woman in the whole world!”

      In response to this, people started rounding out the good-looking women. There were blondes, redheads and brunettes. Some had eyes of blue, others hazel, and the rest, brown and green.  They were undoubtedly the prettiest girls that anyone could find. Surely, one among those bevy of beauties had to be the child’s mother.

      One by one, the women were presented to the little girl. The little girl looked at every single one and shook her head each time. Finally, they came to the last person.

      “Is this your mother?”

      The little girl looked at the beauty before her, shook her head and burst into tears. “I told you, my mother is the most beautiful woman in the whole world!!!”

      Suddenly, the crowd saw a woman huffing and puffing towards them. “I am that child’s mother!”

Everyone turned around to take a good look at her. She was short and stocky, and had a round, pleasant face with sparkling eyes. She was not a conventional beauty, but the love emanating from her face made her luminous. She rushed over to the little girl, scooped her up in her arms, and covered her with kisses, all the while thanking everyone for keeping her child safe. The little girl, her tears now replaced by a big smile, told everyone triumphantly, “I told you my mother was the most beautiful woman in the whole world!”

    To everyone else, the woman cradling the little girl was plain and ordinary, but to her little girl, she was indeed, without question, the most beautiful woman in the whole world. As people went home to their families that day, they held their loved ones a little tighter, a little closer, humbled by a little girl who taught them a very valuable lesson: We do not love people because they are beautiful. They are beautiful to us because we love them.

Image: Harry Clarke, from Tales of Mystery and Imagination by E.A. Poe.