A Tale a Day: The Loveliest Rose in the World

 The Loveliest Rose in the World

This tale is probably one of my least favourite so far... A Queen falls sick and the "wisest" (debatable!) of her doctors claimes that she can only be cured by the loveliest rose in the world.

"And young and old came from every side with roses, the loveliest that bloomed in each garden; but they were not the right sort. The flower was to be brought out of the garden of Love; but what rose was it there that expressed the highest and purest love?"

 

People bring flowers from all over the world, but none is THE rose. Then, people "bring" representations of Love that could be interpreted as roses: a mother brings her beloved child, a wise man claims that the queen's love for her own child is the rose, the bishop says that it's religious devotion to the Lord. But none of these are sought-after rose either. Then the Queen's son comes in, reads about Jesus and his sacrifice to save humankind by dying on the cross.

 

"And a roseate hue spread over the cheeks of the Queen, and he eyes gleamed, for she saw that from the leaves of the book there bloomed the loveliest rose, that sprang from the blood of Christ shed on the Cross."

Turns out THAT was the right rose. Crisis averted. The love of Christ is the most beautiful rose one can possess. It's a shame that, even though Jesus supposedly died for our sins, in the eyes of Christianity we're all still a bunch of sinners. Go figure...

But the Queen should really get better doctors, if that's all they can come up with in an emergency.

However, this tale reminded me of something a lot more interesting and dear to my heart: the rose in "The Little Prince", by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and what she represents. It is similar to this tale, in the sense that, when the little prince first sees a garden of roses, he's deflated at the thought that his rose might not be as unique as he thought.

"And he was overcome with sadness. His flower had told him that she was the only one of her kind in all the universe. And here were five thousand of them, all alike, in one single garden!"

Eventually, with help from the Fox, the little Prince discovered that what made his flower unique was the bond between them: it was all the time spent together and the little gestures and daily acts of service that, brick by brick, ended up building a friendship. 

 

"But in herself alone she is more important than all the hundreds of you other roses: because it is she that I have watered; because it is she that I have put under the glass globe; because it is she that I have sheltered behind the screen; because it is for her that I have killed the caterpillars (...); because it is she that that I have listened to, when she grumbled, or boasted, or even sometimes when she said nothing. Because she is my rose."

 

And, to me, these are THE roses that will save our lives (sometimes quite literally). The roses we care for, the roses we protect, the roses we love deeply. The roses that are there for us day after day, for the great moments but especially for the small. So, it got me thinking, if you were dying, what would be the rose in your life that could save you? Would it be just one? Or have you tended to a whole garden of flowers, each unique in its own way?

I also couldn't help noticing that what the Fox said, "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly ; what is essential is invisible to the eye," is the perfect antidote to yesterday's tale: caring about someone isn't about what they look like or whether they fit in, it's about something deeper within a person and the actions that they dispense to those around them. It's also a beautiful quote. I like the Fox. I think the Fox would be a much better doctor than the ones the Queen had.