The Flower of Honesty

 

I heard this tale some time ago and even though I cannot recall who the author is, I remember it’s a Japanese tale. It has stayed with me since because I find the message plain but beautiful: be who you are no matter what. There is really no point in acting differently because when you do so you are lying. To yourself and to other people. The truth, like in this tale, will always come up. The below is a version of the tale as I remember it, using my own words.

The Flower of Honesty

Once upon a time in a kingdom of Japan, there was an unmarried prince. His family wanted very much for him to be well-married but the prince had not yet chosen a woman to marry him. He was selective too and not so easy to please.

All the young women in the kingdom fancied the prince. Each of them desired to be chosen and become a princess. A young girl from a very poor family had been secretly in love with the prince for a very long time. But why would a prince ever choose her, she often asked herself. She had nothing to give him.

One day the prince made a decision. He summoned all the young women in the kingdom and gave each of them a pot with a flower seed. He said they must take good care of the pot and in three months time, whoever showed him the most beautiful flower would be his wife.

All the girls were overwhelmed with joy and excitement and prepared themselves for the task of watering and nourishing the seed until it sprouted and blossomed into a beautiful flower. The girl from the poor family, even though she didn’t believe she could stand a chance, accepted a pot as well. She took it home and, just like the other girls, she started taking very good care of it.

The first two weeks went by. Tiny little bulbs started sprouting from the pots. Except from the poor girl’s pot. She kept watering it, placing it in the sun and nourishing it the best she could but nothing was happening. Another two weeks. And another two. Absolutely nothing was coming out of that pot. In the meantime, all other girls were rejoicing with the beautiful and colourful flowers that were growing in their pots. The perfume was intoxicating too.

Another two weeks. The time to show the flowers to the prince was coming and yet, nothing was coming out from the poor girl’s pot, no matter how hard she tried. She was desperate now. “What will the prince think?” she thought. “He will think I didn’t care enough about his flower.”

Finally, the day came. All the girls put on their best outfits, did their hair and put on their makeup and got ready to meet the prince. The flowers coming from their pots were so beautiful that it would definitely be difficult for the prince to choose which one he liked most.

Even though nothing had sprouted from her pot, the poor girl decided to show it anyway. She wanted to apologize to the prince for having been unable to grow a flower for him. She felt the mocking looks of the other girls on her and heard scornful giggles. “Just look at her.” they would say ironically. “How dare she even show up with an empty pot?”

Terribly embarrassed, the poor girl just stood there with her head bowed. The prince would laugh at her. As she dared look up, she saw him approaching. He was walking past all the girls observing the flowers and paying compliments to them. “Oh yes, such beautiful flowers. How can I even choose?” he kept saying. Until he saw the empty girl’s pot. He stared at her in disbelief. The girl blushed and bowed her head in shame while she forced herself to mutter an apology.

“I am so so sorry, your highness. You must believe me when I say that I did absolutely everything I could to grow a flower for you. Unfortunately nothing ever came out. Please forgive me for having nothing but an empty pot to show you.”

The prince kept staring at the pot and then, much to her surprise, he stared at her with a wide grin and said:

“It is you who I choose to be my wife.”

All the girls panted in shock. There was a big buzz. What? So many beautiful flowers and the prince was choosing the girl who had not been able to even grow a leaf? The poor girl stared back at him, confused. How could this possibly be? But the prince explained:

“I planted a sterile seed in each of these pots.” he said. “Absolutely nothing could ever grow from them. And while you all have tried to fool me by getting another seed and growing a flower to show me, this girl was the only one who was honest enough to respect me and was brave enough to show me what she had. Therefore, it is her who I choose to marry to.”

They may not have been happy ever after but I am sure their relationship was always based on sincerity and truth. By having always been honest and loyal to herself, the poor girl ended up marrying the man she loved even though she had never believed she would be chosen. So honesty paid off.

How many of us spend our lives trying to please others and end up lying about ourselves even if we don’t really mean to lie? The result isn’t much different from the one in this tale. As we pretend to be someone we are not, we end up looking weird, maybe even false (all those beautiful flowers were indeed false), to other people. And that’s when we are caught and end up miserable. It is impossible to please everybody so we might as well be loyal to our real self. Even if we are a sterile seed those who really love us will never throw us away. And if they don’t like us as we are... do we really want them to be around? I personally don’t like being around people who make me feel like I cannot be myself. When I feel it’s best not to say what I think, not to say a specific word or not to act in a specific way, that’s when I know those are not my people. So I’d rather be loyal to myself. I’d rather show my sterile seed so that they know who I really am. We all have to or should please ourselves before we try to please anyone else.

Maybe other conclusions could be drawn from this story. This is mine. Honesty and being real always end up paying off because they free us from judgment and from people who are not meant to be our pack. And we are not meant to be everybody’s pack either.