There was a beautiful and fragrant violet that lived placidly among her friends, the other flowers, in a solitary garden. One morning, as her crown was embellished with beads of dew, she lifted her head and looked about; she saw a tall and handsome rose standing proudly and reaching high into space, like a burning torch upon an emerald lamp.

The violet opened her blue lips and said, "How unfortunate I am among these flowers, and how humble is the position I occupy in their presence! Nature has fashioned me to be short and poor.... I live too close to the earth to raise my head towards the blue sky, or turn my face to the sun, as the roses do."

And the rose heard her neighbour's words; she laughed and commented, “How strange is your talk! You don’t know how fortunate you are. Nature has given you fragrance and beauty and you should be thankful for what you have. Remember that he who humbles himself will be exalted, and he who exalts himself will be crushed."

The violet answered, "You’re only consoling me because you have what I want and you’re just trying to make me feel even worse. How painful is the preaching of the fortunate to the heart of the miserable! And how severe is the strong when he stands as advisor among the weak!"

And Nature heard the conversation of the violet and the rose; she      approached and said, "What’s happened to you, my daughter violet? In the past you’ve always been humble and sweet in all your deeds and words. Has greed entered your heart and numbed your senses?" In a pleading voice, the violet answered her, saying, "Great and merciful mother, full of love and sympathy, I beg you, with all my heart and soul, to grant my request and allow me to be a rose for one day."

And Nature responded, "You don’t know what you’re saying. If you were a rose you’d be sorry, and there would be nothing you could do about it." The violet insisted, "Change me into a tall rose so I can lift my head high with pride; and regardless of my fate, it will be my own doing." Nature yielded, saying, "Ignorant and rebellious violet, I’ll grant your request. But if things don’t work out the way you wanted them to, you’ve only got yourself to blame." So Nature stretched out her mysterious and magic finger, touched the roots of the violet, and instantly turned her into what she had asked to be.

That evening the sky became thick with black clouds and a storm broke. Gale force winds tore the branches off the trees, uprooted the plants and broke the stems of all the tall flowers, sparing only the little ones who grew close to the earth. That solitary garden suffered greatly from the belligerent skies, and when the storm died down and the weather cleared up, all the flowers were laid waste and none of them had escaped the wrath of Nature except the clan of small violets, hiding by the wall of the garden.

Lifting her head and viewing the devastation all around, one of the violets remarked to her companions, "See what the storm has done to the haughty flowers!" Another violet said, "We might be small and live close to the earth, but that way we’re safe from the wrath of the skies." And a third one added, "It’s precisely because we’re vertically challenged that the storm is unable to subdue us."

At that moment the queen of violets saw by her side the converted violet,      hurled to earth by the storm and lying on the wet grass like a limp soldier in a battle field. The queen of the violets lifted her head and called to her family, saying, "Look, my daughters, and reflect on what Greed has done to the violet who was dissatisfied with her lot.

Let the memory of this scene be a reminder of your good fortune." And the dying rose moved and gathered the remnants of her strength, and quietly said, "You are contented and meek dullards; I’ve never feared the tempest. Yesterday I, too, was satisfied and contented with Life, but Contentment has acted as a barrier between my existence and the tempest of Life, confining me to a sickly and sluggish peace and tranquility of mind.

I could have lived the same life you’re living now by clinging with fear to the earth.... I could have waited like all of you for winter to shroud me with snow and deliver me to Death.... But I’m happy now because I’ve probed outside my little world into the mystery of the Universe.... something which you have not yet done. I could have overlooked Greed, whose nature is higher than mine, but as I focused on the silence of the night, I heard the heavenly world talking to this earthly world, saying, 'Ambition beyond existence is the essential purpose of our being.' At that moment my spirit revolted and my heart longed for a position higher than my limited existence. I realized that the abyss can’t hear the song of the stars, and at that moment I started fighting to overcome my limitations, until my rebelliousness turned into a great power, and my longing into a creating will.... Nature, who is the great object of our deeper dreams, granted my request and changed me into a rose with her magic fingers."

The rose became silent for a moment, and in a weakening voice, mingled      with pride and achievement, she said, "I’ve lived one hour as a proud rose; I’ve existed for a time like a queen; I’ve looked at the Universe from behind the eyes of the rose; I’ve heard the whisper of the firmament through the ears of the rose and touched the folds of Light's garment with rose petals. Is there anyone else here who can claim such an honour?"

Having said what she had wanted to say, she lowered her head, and with a choking voice she gasped, "And now I’m ready to die, for my soul has attained its goal. I’ve finally extended my knowledge to a world beyond the narrow cavern of my birth. This is the design of Life.... This is the secret of Existence."

Then the rose quivered, slowly folded her petals, and breathed her last with a heavenly smile upon her lips... a smile of fulfillment of hope and purpose in Life... a smile of victory... a God's smile.