Geowonderland: The Most Beautiful Flower

The mountainous country of Slovenia lies at the southern center of Europe, with its south-western border basking in the Adriatic Sea. The most beautiful flowers dot the lush slopes of the mountains, bringing a legend of the Most Beautiful Flower.

Long time ago, in the enchanting mountains of Slovenia lived a prince and his father king. Sadly, they bickered and quarreled a lot. Time came, when king grew old and died. The prince now found himself ruling the country, but he lacked wisdom and experience.

His first ruling was to exile all old people, announcing, “They are useless and stand in the way of new ideas.”

Soon, the roads flooded with elders leaving the country for the shelter of neighboring lands. Within days all elders were gone except one. A young farmer, who was raised by his grandfather, appreciated the wisdom of his grandpa, who taught him all about growing crops and caring for animals. When the king’s soldiers came to inspect each house, the young farmer welcomed them with his home-brewed ale, which made the soldier very merry and they did not think of inspecting empty barrels since they drank ale from them. And that’s where the grandpa was hidden.

With each year passed the kingdom was falling more and more apart. There were no wise old counsellors to advise the king. One misfortune led into another. And it seemed as the king was about to make another mistake.

He now had a young daughter on his own and wanted her to get married. Instead of taking time to seek out a young man of good family and character for the princess, he simply announced, “Any young single man who resolves three riddles will be granted my daughter’s hand in marriage.”

The farmer was one of the young men, who came to the palace to solve the riddle. The first riddle was announced, “All young men must gather on a hill before daybreak and guess the exact moment when the sun will rise.”

With his sad face and hunched shoulders, he returned home to his grandpa and told him about the first riddle. Why such sad face, smiled the old man. “It’s very simple. Once you stand on the hill, look westward to the high mountains. The moment you see the sun’s first rays catch the top-most peak, you must say ‘Now’ in that instance, while all the others will be looking eastward and will miss that moment.”

The young man did as he was told and sure enough he solved the first riddle. The king was pleased with him and announced the second riddle, “Tomorrow you must enter the palace wearing shoes and yet walking barefoot.”

Again the sadness overtook the farmer as he had no idea how he could walk barefoot and yet have the shoes on. At the home, the elder laughed at the gloomy looking young man. “I’ll show you how, which I’m pretty sure will put a smile on your face too.” The elder took a pair of shoes and cut away the soles, handing them to the young man. “Now, put them on.” The farmer did as he was told and the elder asked, “How does it feel?”

“It looks like I have the shoes on, but my feet are bare touching the ground,” responded the farmer with a big smile.

Next morning, some returned with one shoe on and one shoe off, but the farmer was the only one who solved the second riddle correctly.

The king was pleased with the young farmer and said, “Let’s see how you solve the third riddle. Tomorrow I want you to bring to the princess the flower which in all the world smells best and looks most beautiful.”

As the farmer made his way home, he smelled all the flowers by the road and contemplated which one looked the most beautiful. Upon arriving home, he thought he figured it out, but the grandfather said, “Take a single ear of wheat.” And whispered to the young man’s ear what to say to the princess while handing it to her.

Next morning, the steps of the palace looked as they were covered in the most exquisite carpet with mingling scents floating above the stairs and nauseating the princess. She got quite bored smelling all the flowers.

When the young farmer presented his flower to the princess, she was quite surprised by its simple look and smell. “Is it even considered a flower?” she asked the king.

“It’s insulting,” bellowed the king.

The young man calmly replied, “I am a simple farmer with a simple flower, which in fact is most magnificent, when you look at a field of golden wheat rippling in the wind. And when you cut it, it brings the most delicious fresh smelling bread from the oven.”

“He is right,” laughed the princess.

“It is true,” agreed the king. “You shall have my daughter’s hand in marriage and you shall rule after me.”

As the happy trio walked back to the palace, the king said, “You’re quite young and yet so smart.”

The farmer hesitated for a moment, then gathered his courage and responded, “I hid my grandfather, who taught me all the wisdom I know.”

The king glared at first. He couldn’t believe that anybody would defy him. But on the second thought, he liked the boy showing respect for his old grandfather. As the king was getting older and older himself, he realized that once he’s old he’d like to receive the same respect. So he said, “Now I see that the wisdom of old people is something to be valued.”

The following day, the orders were announced for all the old people to return to the kingdom, “They shall be treated with the out most respect.”

So the wisdom returned to the land and the people flourished.