Once there was a gardener having a beautiful garden of flower-plants-mostly rose plants. By chance a lily plant blossomed near a rose-bush. A lily plant is believed to yield flowers that never fade and have an everlasting beauty. But the rose flowers have a short life. The lily said to the rose, “How beautiful you are! What an aroma you possess! No wonder, you are universally a favourite flower. I really envy you.” The rose replied, “You wouldn’t have said so, if you had known the reality. My bloom is very short-lived. I bloom in the morning and by sunset I begin to lose shine. By the next morning I fade completely and then I die. But you are known to have flowers that never fade even if they have been cut. Beauty is only a nine-day wonder.”
Moral : Eternal beauty is more necessary than outer beauty.
