After they had finished their breakfast Mr. Klemmens and the Widow Sabishane continued through the jungle. Mr. Klemmens, now beginning to understand that keen observation brings insightful appreciation, had sheathed his sword and was climbing over and under every vine, thicket, and root in their path. His large cat eyes stared in wonder at all the different kinds of plants. "This one is interesting Widow, it has ten petals but only one flower per plant. Oh and look here, every petal is a different color. I wonder why that is." The Widow smiled warmly at her friend and bent down to him, carefully examining the plant he was pointing to. "Oh yes, that's called the Doting Marquis Mr. Klemmens. It is an extremely rare flower with a bit of a fable. Would you like to hear it?" The large Somali cat curled up on the floor of the jungle and nodded his head, his yellow and gold flecked tail swishing back and forth excitedly. "Very well then." Said the Widow as she plopped down next to him and began scratching behind his ear.
"In the small town of Hue, many many years ago, there lived a kind and loving Marquis with his beautiful Marchioness. They ruled their people for many years with kindness and equality and they never gave in to greed or corruption like so many others. The Marquis and Marchioness loved each other very much and so it comes as to no surprise that they had 10 lovely daughters between them, each one born exactly one year after the last. As you can imagine, birthdays became especially difficult for the Marquis and his wife, as each daughter's was on the same exact day."
"For many years the gifted Marquis would come up with a new present for each daughter that was always especially unique. Unfortunately, when the eldest daughter was about to turn twenty, the Marquis of Hue was finally stumped. He had thought of one hundred and fifty-three wonderfully distinct ideas over the past 20 years and now he could think of nothing else to give to them. As his daughters' birthdays grew closer, the Marquis began to worry. One evening, when the moon was big and bright, he went out to his garden to sit and think. While he sat, staring at his beautifully exotic garden, his head in his hands, the he began to lose hope. It was at this moment when the moon ducked behind a cloud and the garden became very, very dark. The Marquis looked up at the sky out of curiosity and the clouds slowly began to drift apart. As they did this, a very small portion of the garden became illuminated and the Marquis gasped in astonishment at what he saw. There, in the middle of his garden, was the most gorgeous flower he had ever seen."
"A flower with ten pristine petals, each one an amazingly unique shade of color unlike any of the others. The Marquis rose from his seat at once and hurried to the small flower. Falling to his knees, the humble man dug the tiny plant out of the ground as carefully as he could. He lifted the strange looking flower like a newborn baby, carefully bringing it inside. After taking some top soil from his garden, the Marquis re-potted the tiny plant in a red porcelain bowl with gorgeous blue and white hand-painted Koi swimming across it. When he was finished, he sat at his kitchen table staring at the tiny flower in awe."
"The petals ranged in color from blood orange to scarlet, citrine, indigo, amaranthine, tangerine, jade, coral, cerulean, and finally amber. Upon looking even closer, the Marquis noticed tiny veins in each petal of the flower. The veins too were strange and unique, as they took on the colors of the petals next to them. For instance, the dark amaranthine petal's veins bore the bright color of the citrine petal next to it, and the citrine petal's veins bore the dark color of the amaranthine. Every petal was, in this way, sharing a unique quality of its neighbor. As the Marquis looked even closer still, he saw that what he thought were individual petals were in fact all growing as one from the same area at the top of the stem. "Each petal is connected!" Said the Marquis to himself as he stamped his feet in excitement. "Finally, my search for the perfect gift is over!"
"On the following morning, the morning of his daughters' birthday, the Marquis sat in the kitchen anxiously awaiting his daughters. When every one of them had come down the steps the Marquis wished them all a happy birthday and gave them each a kiss on the forehead. "My lovely daughters," the Marquis said proudly as he stood before them, "I have found for you, the perfect gift. Aside from your mother and the ten of you, this gift is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my entire life." As the Marquis said this he stepped aside, revealing the potted flower to his daughters. Each daughter marveled at the flower and its extraordinary beauty as they examined it. After a few moments the youngest daughter, who was only ten years old, came up to her father and tugged on his coat tails. "But sir, tis only one flower. Who gets this one and what do the rest of us get?" The Marquis looked down at his youngest daughter and smiled fondly while scooping her up into his arms. He walked to the table where the flower was, sat down placing his daughter on his knee and then motioned for the rest of the girls to sit with him."
"Once they had all gathered around, he spoke. "My daughters, this flower is a gift to each of you. Look closely, for what it represents is something much more beautiful than any of its brilliant colors." The girls did as their father asked, but no matter how hard they tried and no matter how many ways they looked at the flower, not one of them could guess what it was their father had meant. When he realized they would need some guidance, the Marquis spoke up. "Look at the stem of the plant my children, do you see how it grows upward but never stops? What you first see as an individual petal is in fact an extension of the entire plant. Each petal is physically connected to its sister; there is no separation between any one part of the plant. Not only are they connected on the exterior, but look at the veins. Each petal reflects a quality of its neighbor within itself. So in short, my beautiful petals, this flower not only represents each of you, but it represents all of you. You are all connected to each other and you each reflect one another's beauty within yourself."
When the Widow had finished her story Mr. Klemmens was staring at her intently. "This is lesson two isn't it Sabishane?" The Widow smiled her fantastic smile and stood up with great effort. "Yes Mr. Klemmens, it is. The second lesson in appreciation is connection. We are all connected Mr. Klemmens; to each other, to the Earth, and to the paths that lead us to our destinations, wherever they may be. If you can find these connections and remember to observe them, then you will learn many things. You will appreciate your life and other's lives much more when you see the connections we share. You will see just how sacred we all are. Now, let's get a move on, shall we?"
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