A heart’s-ease

By Joyce Baker

A story is told of a king who went into his garden one morning,and found everything withered（凋谢）and dying.He asked the oak（橡树）that stood near the gate what the trouble was.

He found it was sick of life and determined to die because it was not tall and beautiful like the pine.The pine was all out of heart because it could not bear grapes like the vine.The vine was going to throw its life away because it could not stand erect and have as fine fruit as the peach tree.The geranium （天竺葵）was fretting because it was not tall and fragrant like the lilac and so on all through the garden.

Coming to a heart’s-ease,he found its bright face lifted as cheery as ever.

“Hello,heart’s-ease,I’m glad,within all this discouragement,to find one brave little flower.You do not seem to lose heart.”

“No,have nothing I can be proud of,but I thought that if you wanted an oak，a pine，a peach tree， or a vine，a geranium， a lilac,you would have planted one;but as I knew you wanted a heart’s-ease,I am determined to be the best little heart’s-ease that I can.

一个国王清晨走进花园，发现所有的草木都已经枯萎，奄奄一息了。于是，他问门边的橡树究竟发生了什么事。

原来是它消极厌世、一心求死，因为橡树觉得自己不如松树般高大、秀丽。而松树为自己不如葡萄藤那般结满丰硕的果实而沮丧。葡萄藤则为自己无法直立，并且无法像桃树那样结出上好的果实而想结束生命。天竺葵也焦躁不安，因为它觉得自己不如紫丁香那样修长、芳香……于是，整个花园都了无生气。

国王走到一株安心草面前，发现它仍然神采奕奕，如从前般欢乐。

“你好，安心草，我感到非常高兴，所有的草木都对自己失去了信心，只有你能勇敢地生活，没有丝毫气馁。”

“虽然我并没有什么值得骄傲的东西，但我想，如果你想要一棵橡树、松树、桃树，或葡萄，或天竺葵、丁香，你就会去种它们，而因为我知道你想要一株安心草，所以我决心尽我所能做一株最好的安心草。