小梅女
One day Mai-Qwai (Little Rose) ran home angry to her mother saying,
“Mü-Tsing, I do not want my name to be Rose any longer. I was in
Dun-Qure’s garden just now, and she asked me, ‘Which flower do you like
best of all in our garden?’ and I said I liked my name-flower best.
“Then they all laughed and said, ‘We do not. Do you not see the thorns
on the roses? When we pass near we tear our dresses. When we touch them
the blood flows from our hands. No, we do not like the roses. The baby
cow does not like them either. They stick her nose when she tries to
eat, and even mother can not pick them without scissors. Once when she
had a large bunch of roses, little sister tried to get one and it stuck
her hands and face so that she cried many hours. Other flowers do not
make trouble like that, and we do not see why any one likes the rose
best. We think it very foolish to like a trouble flower and be named
for it.’
“I do not like my name-flower any more, Mü-Tsing, and I do not want to
bear its name.”
“Do not cry, dear child,” said her mother, “and I will tell you some
things about the rose. Do you like rose sugar?” [26]
“Yes, very much,” Rose answered, her face growing bright.
“And rose oil?”
“Oh, yes, Mü-Tsing.”
“I thought you did not like the rose. So you ought not to like the good
things it makes.”
“But, Mü-Tsing, tell me why did the rose god make the rose grow with so
many thorns? Other flowers are not like that.”
“Listen, dear child. If the rose tree were like other trees and still
had its beautiful flowers, I think we should never have any for
ourselves. They would be too easily gathered. The rose god was very
wise and put thorns all around his beautiful flower. When he made it,
he gave it an odor so sweet that all the gods stopped working on the
day it was finished. The thorns mean, Honor the rose which grows
forever. The cows can not touch it, and the pigs never go near it, and
careless children or wasteful people can not destroy it. Do you see,
dear, why the rose must have thorns?”
The next morning Rose found in her room a beautiful new rose pillow
made of the sweet-smelling petals. When she laid her head on this
fragrant pillow she said, “Mü-Tsing, I do not wish to change my name.”