In the heart of a hidden village, surrounded by beautiful

wooden houses, huge pine trees and many flowers lived

Lucecyta; together with her father and a woman we shall call
her stepmother.
Lucecyta was a very strange child; she never played or
laughed, and even though she enjoyed being five years old,
she was surprisingly mature.
He stepmother would watch her, sad at their lack of
closeness. Even though the little one was not
affectionate with her, she was nice enough and
always helped to maintain the beautiful garden that
both of them loved. The little girl’s heart would jump
for joy every time she was with the beautiful flowers,
and she would carefully hug them.
One day, as the little freckled child was among her favourite
flowers, she didn’t notice her father come up to her. His
daughter looked so serene and innocent that he wanted to hold
her shoulder, but upon seeing his shadow, she turned around
to tell him:
“Father, I wish to plant a new flower. Can I have permission to
go into the forest and choose a pretty flower for my garden?
Please?”
Her father looked at her lovingly; although he seemed to have
a tough exterior, he was always willing to grant her every wish.
“Go on my daughter, go into the forest.” He replied.
He never showed a smile to give himself away, but he softly stroked
her hair, and then Mr. Diego fled; away from his daughter before the
sadness became too much. As he walked towards the house, he felt
a strong breeze on his skin, making him remember his wife. At that
moment, just as he remembered her and felt a tear fall, his
conscious awoke.
“I am a heartless coward. I didn’t tell my little one how much I
love her, just as I adored her mother; and how scared I am of
losing her too.”
Almost always, the little girl was to be found among her
precious flowers, remembering all the times she watched her
mother take care of them with such love, carefully removing
any old, dry leaves that ruined their beauty. Now Lucecyta did
the same, never taking a rest from attending the flowers.
The flowers seemed not to hear anything, only watching and
remaining distant from what was happening outside of their
lovely home. Lucecyta would talk to them every single day,
always wishing that they would speak back to her.
“Hello! How are you today? Is there any sadness here?” she
would ask them, and always reply to herself.
“Yes, there is a lot of sadness; I feel it here in my tummy.”
This time, when she realised that no flower
would ever speak to her, the little girl felt
terribly sad. And so, with her spirit full of pain
and unanswered questions, she got up from
the flowerbed to find her father and with her
sweet, quiet voice, asked him:
“Daddy, where’s my mummy? I need her to teach me about
what is right and wrong.”
Lucecyta’s need to know about her mother was so big that Mr.
Diego couldn’t find the way to explain, and fell into a deep silence
as he held her closely.
The flowers in the garden heard the conversation, but
one of them felt the little girl’s pain especially, deep
down in its seed; and so it called on the Flower Angel
to ask for her help.
“Angel, I want to talk to you. I know you’re very busy,
but this is more important… Flower Angel… Angel…”
The girl angel, mortified by the shouts, appeared
without her flowery cane:
“Why can’t I even take a nap? What’s happened now?”
Though the flower was hidden behind all the others,
when it saw its carer complaining, it worked up the
courage to tell her:
“I’m the one who called you Essence… it’s really
important.”
Essence, the angel carer who gave
colour and perfume to the flowers,
was still a little annoyed at being
called, but upon seeing the
anguished face of her youngest
flower, she calmed down to say:
“You must have a good reason for
making all that terrible racket,
hehehe…. Well, tell me little one, what
is making you so sad?”
The little flower bent over and invited Essence to sit on its
petals while it told her:
“There’s a girl who cares for us and loves us, but…”
and so on it went, telling her all of Lucecytas story.
While the little girl was with her father in the garden, crying
softly at not finding the answer; the stepmother, who had
been close by and listening to them, also felt saddened and
believed it was her fault.
She wanted to help her husband and the girl, and spoke to
her:
“Come Lucecyta, let’s go inside! I want to show you
something.”
Her kind stepmother took her by the hand and the girl
obeyed, following her inside the house and to a wooden
chest of drawers, where Lucecyta watched her, unsure.
“Come Lucecyta, come close and look!”
And she removed a delicate piece of material from a
little glass treasure chest, explaining with the wisdom
and care of a mother:
“Do you see this little glass treasure chest with its
golden edges? I was given this when I was your age…
and now it’s yours! Little one, inside here is the truth,
and that is why it is so difficult to tell you. You see it is
locked? You won’t be able to open it yet, because the
only key to this chest is ‘time’… If you try to open it by
force, it could break and the truth that is inside it will
escape from you, and you can never return it to the
treasure chest.”
“But… now what do I do?”
asked the little child, all worried.
So the kind woman explained to her again:
“Now that you know about the treasure chest
and what is inside it, you know that there is a
truth. You only have to wait a little for time to
bring you the key. Be very careful not to break
it, Lucecyta.”
Because she was a small child, she realised
only one thing: that if she could open the
beautiful chest, she would know the truth.
In the garden, when Essence had heard the
story, she felt very moved, and told the flower:
“What do you want me to do for you? I wish I
could help the child, but you know that even if
I wanted to help with my magic, I cannot
meddle in earthly affairs… then I would not be
the Flower Angel!”
“Sweet Essence, all I wish is for you to
give me permission to speak to that
poor girl. That is all!”
The angel looked at the flower, shaking
her head from side to side, quietly
denying the request.
“You do not know what you are asking of me! Let me explain… if
you speak even just one word to the girl, you will be forgotten
forever; your seed will dry out and never again find fertile ground.”
Despite this, the flower smiled and answered:
“I know. My mother told me before she gave me her place; but I
don’t want to continue living if it means that every day I see that
poor girl crying and begging us to speak to her, even if just to say
“Don’t cry anymore, everything will get better!” Nothing else
matters more than that. Please Essence; just give me permission,
because even if you don’t, I will speak to her anyway…”
As the angel replied, she opened a doorway to see into the future:
“No, don’t do that! Let me show you what will happen… I am the
only angel on earth who helps by giving colour and perfume to the
flowers to give cheer to the world. If you do this without my
permission, I will be punished and banished to another land,
without being able to give scent to any flower for two whole
seasons. You could all get sick and I wouldn’t be able to help any of
you. I see that you are determined to help that girl, so I will give you
my permission.”
And so Essence gave her consent. She gave life and colour to her
chosen flower, as well as a child’s voice.
The brave flower, despite knowing it
would disappear forever, thanked the
angel for granting its wish.
It waited anxiously for Lucecyta, and the
next time she came close, surrounding
herself with her favourite flowers to
smell their perfume, it looked up to her
with little sad eyes wet with dew, and
said:
“I know that you want to know the
truth!”
What a surprise the little girl had! The
dream that she had wished for every day
had come true!
She was so amazed that she could not move, and
the curious little flower lightly tapped her with its
leaf. She smiled with joy as she realised it was not a
dream.
“I am a flower found in the fields, by the rivers, in
the perfumed woods, and in the garden of your
home; I can be found anywhere. I know that you feel
sad because you don’t know where your mother is.
And now you have a treasure chest that was given
to you, where the truth is waiting. Do not try to open
it, not by force… Everything will come in its due
moment and the key is time.”
And so in its eagerness to help her, the flower gave
her its final piece of advice; all the while, slowly drying
up just as the angel had warned it. Without realising
that the magic of the speaking flower would soon
leave her garden, the little one ran out of there happily,
telling it:
“Wait for me here, beautiful flower, I will be back at
sunrise and if time is the key to my little treasure
chest, I will work out how to open it.”
Lucecyta had heard over and over again that ‘time’
was the key to open the chest, and as she was trying
to sleep, she thought:
“I must know the truth!... I must know the truth!”
As nightfall came, the flowers went to sleep and the
people fell into a deep slumber; and in the middle of
the night the little girl ran into the forest, carrying her
beautiful, shiny chest in her hands.
“If I run really fast, I will be able to open it and find out the
truth that they are all trying to hide from me.”
She ran and ran without stopping. She believed that as she
ran, time would move faster with her and the chest would
open to show her the answer; just as her stepmother had
promised.
“I will run three more times! I can beat time!”
She ran around the forest, content with her idea,
until she tripped over and dropped her little glass
chest… she didn’t know and didn’t even want to
check if it had broken; just thinking about it made
her burst into tears.
With a deep sadness she cried and cried until she
was heard even in heaven, and then she fell into a
deep sleep among the fallen leaves of the forest.
Lucecyta entered a wonderful dream, where her
mother appeared surrounded by the rays of the
sun and tenderly took her onto her lap to speak
with her:
“Do not cry anymore my daughter. Do not go
searching in the little glass chest anymore; it
represents you yourself, and the truth that it
carries inside is there, in your heart. You know,
I will always be there with you. Now up you
get!”
Two angels had heard the girl, and were deeply touched; bringing
to her the little flower that had given up its own life to try and help
her. And as they stroked Lucecyta’s hair, they sang to it:
“Little flower, sow your seed, and fill all of the village with flowers
that can talk.”
And the angels looked to the little girl, and also sang together:
“Wake up little one; you shall also have your reward.”
The little girl woke up fresh as she would have from a full
night of sleep, peaceful as the morning and as content as an
angel, and ran back home. She hugged her father just as she
used to do, looked over at her new mother, and touched her
cheek, telling her while weeping with happiness:
“I understand!”
She knew then that her mother had died, and that
her new mother was a huge gift from heaven. Ever
since then that family has been immensely happy,
and yes, of course their village became known for
their talking flowers!
The End