Once upon a time… behind the seven mountains, behind the seven rivers, there lived a magical gardener. The whole world talked about his garden, where the flowers grew exceptionally beautiful. They were, of course, magical – planted in one soil, they could exchange what they had collected, and they all needed salts from the ground; pollen brought by insects; sunlight and water from a nearby stream.
The gardener looked at his flowers from time to time and told them that they had to take care of each other and share what they had.
Each of you lives in a different place. One has more water, another has more sunlight, yet another has salt from the earth. Please remember this and share what you have wisely, so that each of you can bloom – he said to three freshly planted daisies.
And so three sisters sprouted and grew – Nina, Misia and Zdzisia. Nina usually shared the sun’s rays because she always had the most of them. Misia gave her salt because she grew in the most fertile soil, and Zdzisia gave her water because she was closest to the stream.
They were already big flower girls when something changed. Day by day, there was less and less water in the stream. At first they didn’t notice it, but over time they realized that they no longer had fresh supplies and they had to use what they had gathered.
At the beginning, each of them reached for what she had put aside earlier. Over time, however, when this began to end, Nina, who had always been the furthest from the stream, began to slowly wither away. She felt that she was about to run out of water and decided to react immediately. So she asked her sisters:
I’m very thirsty. Could you please give me some of your water?
Misia and Zdzisia were very worried and of course decided to help. Zdzisia immediately gave away all her supplies. After all, she was always the one closest to the stream and she would definitely be able to handle it on her own. Misia asked her sister:
How much water do you need? I still have some supplies.
Thank you very much. I already have what I need. I got everything from Zdzisia – Nina replied to Misia
The next few days passed and there was still no rain. Zdzisia felt worse and worse without water. She gave away all the supplies, but she would feel very bad to ask her sisters for help. After all, she was the one who always supported them and still wanted to feel strong and be the one who gives, not the one who needs help. She was really ashamed to ask for support and admit that she had so unwisely given up everything she had.
Maybe it will rain tomorrow? If not, I’ll finally ask Nina and Misia – Zdzisia thought
Evening came and she fell asleep. They all fell asleep, and Zdzisia was withering more and more.
Then the gardener came to his garden. He decided to move the sisters to another place, where the second stream flowed. However, he only took two flowers because the third one had already withered.
Nina and Misia cried a lot for their sister later because they knew there would be enough water for everyone. They didn’t expect or notice that Zdzisia was missing it.
The gardener later wondered for a long time how it happened that the flower that was closest to the stream withered first…
