The Gardner and the Flower

Once upon a time, there was a flower beautiful to behold.
Full of light in a dark kingdom the flower bore the seeds of love.
Her seeds had the power to grow in the heart of the beholder.
Together the flower and the beholder would wait for the sun to
appear over head, for the sun is the source of sustenance.
Without him there could be no love, no warmth, no life.
Sometimes when the weather is cloudy it is hard to see the sun.
It was during these times that the flower and her friend would
assure each other that the sun would be out again soon.
The flower swayed in the breezes while her friend sang.
Whenever the hard rains came the flower and her friend
stood by one another, and although it was difficult to bear up under,
the flower would raise up again soon after the storm. This
then, is the story of how the two became friends.
The man first spied the rose in a field of roses. He was
awed by her beauty so much, that he almost bumped into a tree
branch while gazing at her. She was quiet and bent over for
that day had been cloudy and wet. The man left the field
that day and had almost forgotten the rose, but an enchanted wind
arose and carried one of the flower's magic seeds from the field
a great distance to the man's house and planted it in his heart.
Along the way from the man's house to the field where the flower lived,
were a great many obstacles; swamps, wild beasts, and thickets of thorns
to block his path, but the flower could not come to him
so he traveled to the flower's field. The seed
once planted worked in the man's heart and grew into a powerful
vision of the flower. Now, it seemed to the man that even if there
were Lions in the way of getting to the field, it mattered little.
Indeed as the man drew closer to the flower he realized that she
was more beautiful than his memory's telling. The flower called out:
"I have thorns that may hurt you and the journey is difficult for you
to make." For the field was a dangerous place, and was the flower
to place trust in a stranger when her life was held in such a delicate
balance? Also, there were other flowers to consider. Might
the man in his clumsiness and haste not trample under foot some
of those which grew very close to the spot where the flower stood?
Or might he try to pull me out and move me elsewhere? Again she
called: "My roots are entwined with many of the flowers close to me,
If you take me away others may be injured or lost. " So she closed
her petals into a bud and thought on these things, while the little flower
prayed that the sun might shine. The sun did come out.
His rays shone and reflected through droplets on the flower so
that she appeared radiant and faceted about with diamonds.
It seemed to the man that the sun only shone on the flower.
Soon the man arrived and was careful of the other flowers so
that he did not injure them.  He brought water for the flower
and tilled the soil at her feet. As he kneeled beside her, the
man noticed for the first time the flower's intoxicating fragrance;
it washed over him like an ocean wave. The orange and jasmine
blossoms saw this and were jealous, for all the blossoms of the
field could not compare. Every day, and sometimes at night, the
man came to visit the flower, either in body or in his thoughts.
But thoughts were never like being there with her. So it was
that the man became more and more like a gardener, until it was so.
The flower absorbed and reflected more and more of the sun in
her glorious petals. The gardner and flower became friends.
Then it happened, they began to see that they were made with
the purpose of caring and being cared for. In doing so they
both became stronger and better at caring
so that they began to care for those around them and all
things great and small that lived in the field. He with the
skills of a husbandman and she with the power of love.
The two became very close so that the flower no longer
afraid, opened up again in full bloom. The gardner loved
the flower and she in turn loved her friend. He began to
notice how intricate were the flower's gold tipped
and scarlet petals. Soft to the touch and blinding to
look upon. Also her slender stem and waxen leaves,
which alternately shone in the sun or danced with dew
in the moonlight. She gave shade to all passing below;
From her heart came pollen and nectar to humming birds,
butterflies, ants and bees of the field. The friends
were happy in this newly enchanted place and let
their dreams take flight, for both knew that winter
season would come some day. The season of ice
when all things must sleep. The gardner and flower
shivered at the passing thought. But the sun
shone strongly upon them through the morning mists
and a rainbow comforted them with these words:
" Be assured little ones below, the sun rules the sky
and seasons, he is always shining even in the
darkest winter, and the hand of ice has been
broken forever so that spring may come again,
and so that the flower, her friend and all that live
in the field might dwell in his warm light for evermore ." 
So it was, and so they did. So that this story might be told.
And so it is that they lived happily ever after.