In a time not much different than now. In a place not too different than where you are. There lived a woman. She was not a woman of beauty. Not a woman of quick wit, but a woman with a kind heart. She lived a quiet, simple life. She lived in a simple home, with a simple cat. She was mostly a happy woman, but sometimes she was lonely. To comfort herself she would read great stories of love and romance. She would pretend she was the beautiful heroine. She would dream that her prince would come riding up and tell her he was going to take her away from her simple life and show her wonders she could never imagine. These dreams would get her through the darkest and loneliest days.
One day, while the simple woman sat on her porch petting her simple cat, she heard a strange noise. It sounded like a tiny voice crying for help. The simple woman followed the tiny voice. To her surprise, the voice led her to a tiny winged fairy lying in the rose patch.
"Kind madam, could you please help me?", asked the fairy, "I seem to have caught my wing on a thorn and now I cannot fly. If you do not help me I will surely perish in this August sun!"
"Of course I will help you." Replied the simple woman. Without another thought, she gently picked up the tiny fairy and carried him to her simple house. Out of her sewing basket, she found her finest silk thread and mended the fairy's broken wing.
Several days and nights passed while the tiny fairy lay in the tiny makeshift bed. Every day the woman made the fairy meals of sunflower seeds and honey. Every morning she collected dew
drops for the tiny fairy to drink from her finest thimble. Every evening she would read him great stories from her books until he was lulled to sleep.
One morning, when the simple woman returned home, after collecting dewdrops, she noticed the tiny makeshift bed was empty. The woman, worried about her tiny fairy friend, called out for him.
"Hello, where are you my friend?", she called.
"I am all around you." Replied a voice that seemed to be coming from all the corners of the room.
"I don't understand." Said the simple woman.
"My dear lady," echoed the fairy, "My wings are healed and fairies move too quickly for your human eyes to see."
"Now I understand." Said the simple woman looking around the room wondering just where her friend might be.
"I could not leave without thanking you for all of your kindness. You saved me from a sure death." Said the fairy.
At that moment, something dropped to the floor by the simple woman's feet. She reached down and picked up what looked like a smooth heart shaped seed, which fit in the palm of her hand.
"What is this?” asked the woman.
"Your kindness touched me so and renewed my faith in the human capacity for unconditional love and kindness. So, I give you my heart,” said the Fairy. "In human hands, a fairy heart can be a powerful tool. When you wear it close to your own heart it reflects to the world your true beauty, the beauty that comes from within. It can help lead you to your heart's desires."
With that, the door flew open. The simple woman knew the tiny fairy was gone. She placed the smooth fairy heart in her pocket closest to her own heart, and waited. Nothing happened.
"That is peculiar." She thought, "I don't feel any different. Oh well, the gift was kind, and it is the thought that counts. It will be my new good luck charm."
The simple woman smiled to herself and patted her front pocket.
Now that all of the excitement was over the simple woman knew it was time to get back to her normal life. While taking care of the tiny fairy, she had not been to the market in a long while and her supplies were running low. It was time to go to town.
Walking down the main street in the center of town, the woman noticed something strange was going on with the town people. Everywhere she looked the people were smiling and whispering and looking in her direction.
"I wonder why everyone is looking at me?" Thought the simple woman, "I hope my clothes are straight and I don't have dirt on the end of my nose!"
She imagined walking down the center of town with crooked clothes and a mud pie balanced on the end of her nose. This mental picture made her giggle to herself.
"My angel, your laughter is like music." Said a deep voice, interrupting her daydream.
To the simple woman's surprise it was Mr. Duboir, the most handsome and wealthiest man in town. The simple woman knew him because she cleaned his house from time to time over the years.
"Are you a vision or are you real? Dare I ask you your name and risk you disappearing, leaving me with a broken heart for the rest of my days?" asked Mr. Duboir, without taking his eyes off of the simple woman for a second.
"It is just I, the simple woman who looks after your house from time to time." She replied, quite confused by the way he was acting.
"I can't believe I have employed such a lovely creature all this time in such a menial task as cleaning my house. You should be treated as no less than a queen and you should have people cleaning your house!" announced Mr. Duboir.
"I have never thought of my job as menial. In fact I take great pride in my work. You are a handsome and wealthy man and I find your words flattering, confusing, but nonetheless flattering. When I look in your eyes, for some reason unknown to me, I can see you are a shallow unkind man. You are shrewd in business and life. You are rich because of all the people you used and walked on to get to where you are today. You would never put anyone else's needs before your own. You are selfish and ugly to me." Said the woman surprised at her own quick tongue.
"It must be the fairy heart that is allowing me to see his true self." She thought to herself.
She turned to walk away from Mr. Duboir, who was standing, stunned by her rejection. No sooner did she take a step than the next admirer, and then the next stopped her! They were all men, professing their sudden love for her. All men without beauty beneath their handsome faces, behind their telling eyes.
One man always lied and used people to get what he wanted. One man made promises he knew he would never keep. One man was violent. One man already had a wife and family at home.
The simple woman was beginning to wonder if the fairy's gift was more of a curse. She was now able to see the true nature of someone's heart just by looking in their eyes. It was beginning to make her deeply sad to know how corrupt humankind can be.
The woman then came upon the kind blind man who always sat in the summer sun, on the bench outside the market. She always liked seeing the blind man. On long summer days she would bring fresh lemonade into town and the two of them would just sit and talk for hours about all the things in life they found interesting or strange.
The woman was especially excited to talk to him today, seeing as it was definitely the most peculiar and interesting day she may have had in her life!
"Hello friend." Said the simple woman to the blind man; "You would not believe the day I have had!"
The simple woman told him the story about finding the tiny fairy with a broken wing, mending his wing, the gift of the smooth heart shaped seed the tiny fairy said was his heart, and then all the strange reactions of the townspeople.
"Because of my blindness, I cannot tell you if you look any different now than you always have," said the blind man to the simple woman, "but, I can tell you, to me, you are just as beautiful as you have always been. In fact, I think you are the most beautiful woman I have ever known. That is why I have always loved you."
Surprised, the simple woman asked, "Why have you never told me this before?"
The blind man replied, "I have known I loved you for a long time, but I never thought a woman as wonderful as you deserved a man with limitations such as myself. I did not think I could be a good enough provider for you or a family. I enjoyed our time together so much. I have always been afraid I might scare you away."
The woman looked into the misty eyes of the blind man. Something happened. She suddenly realized she was looking at possibly the most beautiful human being she had ever laid eyes upon. Her heart began swelling with love.
"You are all I have ever needed or dreamed of." Said the woman to the blind man; "To prove my love to you I will break this spell that makes me more than the simple woman I know I am."
With this oath of true love, she reached into her pocket closest to her heart and pulled out the fairy's heart. She broke the smooth heart shaped seed in two and placed half of it into the blind man's hand.
'What is this?" asked the blind man.
"It is half of the fairy's heart." Replied the simple woman.
"By giving this to me, won't the spell be broken that gives you this new physical beauty and insight on the human heart?" the blind man asked, sounding a little confused.
"I don't need a spell to know you have a kind heart, I have always known that," said the woman, "and a physical beauty that will fade in time, is no matter to you, for I am already beautiful in your eyes. And you, my love, is all that matters." With that, the simple woman leaned over and softly kissed the lips of the blind man.
Right then, both halves of the broken fairy heart flew out of their hands and reconnected in the air above their heads. It began pulsating pure light. It was so bright; the simple woman was forced to shield her eyes. She then heard the fairy's voice booming from all directions.
"You have used my gift to you wisely and it has led you to your heart's desire." He said to the simple woman, "I am so touched by your selfless act to prove your love to this man I want to give you another gift."
There was a great flash of light and then silence. Somehow the simple woman knew the fairy was gone once again. She looked at the blind man and noticed he was blinking wildly.
"Are you all right?" asked the simple woman.
"My eyes are tingling." Said the blind man.
The simple woman placed her hands on each side of the blind man's face and looked
deeply into his eyes, trying to see if she could notice anything happening.
For the blind man it was like a thousand veils, stacked one on top of another, being lifted away one at a time.
When the veils were all lifted, and his eyes adjusted, he found himself looking at the most beautiful face he had ever known. The same face he looked at, and loved, every day for the rest of his life.
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