“Can you see it?” The boy asked the girl. He was stretching a small oval mirror before her face and prompting her to look into it.
The girl was startled for a moment; then she looked at the reflection staring back at her. There was a dark blob for a face, a mass of wild curly hair and a mouth that was neither sweet nor voluptuous.
She hid her hands in her face.
“Take it away from me,” she sobbed.
The boy clasped her hands and lifted up her tear-drenched face.
“You don’t know how beautiful you are,” he said gently.
The girl looked at him to see if he was being scornful but his eyes were flashing with sincere warmth.
All her life she had bore the brunt of being the odd one out in her family. Her mother had been a conventional beauty and her two sisters had taken after the mother. But when it came to her, she had not been blessed with the fair alabaster skin, almond eyes, tempting ruddy lips and lissome rounded limbs that the other females in her family had.
Over time the mirror had turned out to be her greatest enemy and as a growing young maiden, she had always remained in the back drop.
Then he had discovered her.
“How can you love someone so plain, so ugly?” She asked as usual.
He stood silent for a long time as if he had expected the question.
“Today I will tell you how beautiful you are to me,” he said, “I have been waiting for this.”
“Look into the mirror,” he commanded.
“See those eyes,” he said, “I have seen sublimity in those eyes. I have seen love, gentleness and passion in them. I have seen the tenderness with which they beheld the sufferings of others. I have seen fire in them
When you fought for what was right. I have seen clarity in them when you had a vision to achieve.”
“Have you noticed your smile?” He asked. “Artificial, weak smiles I have seen in many women. They are intended to create an impression but when you smile it is as if the sun has just risen and made the world aglow. Your smile is the expression of your real, true emotions. There is nothing fake about it. There is ardent warmth, vigorous pleasure in it.”
“Have you noticed the beauty of your person? Your dark skin is like gossamer. It reminds me of the night studded with stars. Your hair dances with the wind to create a cosmic rhythm, your slight figure to me is a pure pillar of strength which houses a soul myriad times fairer and more precious than a gem.”
“You are not a flower. It would wilt and wither away. You are the likeness of one engraved in a priceless stone but with the freshness and fragrance of a newly blossomed rose.”
The girl slowly raised her eyes unto the mirror. She was seeing a new person… a beautiful, radiant person. She was prized and valued by someone she loved. She had never looked or felt so beautiful. She smiled and her smile merged with that of the boy’s who took her hand. They walked away together into a world where love had bathed everything in sunshine.
Thus, a beauty was born.
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