By Joyce Baker

A story is told of a king who went into his garden one morning,and found everything withered（凋謝）and dying.He asked the oak（橡樹）that stood near the gate what the trouble was.

He found it was sick of life and determined to die because it was not tall and beautiful like the pine.The pine was all out of heart because it could not bear grapes like the vine.The vine was going to throw its life away because it could not stand erect and have as fine fruit as the peach tree.The geranium （天竺葵）was fretting because it was not tall and fragrant like the lilac and so on all through the garden.

Coming to a heart’s-ease,he found its bright face lifted as cheery as ever.

“Hello,heart’s-ease,I’m glad,within all this discouragement,to find one brave little flower.You do not seem to lose heart.”

“No,have nothing I can be proud of,but I thought that if you wanted an oak，a pine，a peach tree， or a vine，a geranium， a lilac,you would have planted one;but as I knew you wanted a heart’s-ease,I am determined to be the best little heart’s-ease that I can.

一個國王清晨走進花園，發(fā)現所有的草木都已經枯萎，奄奄一息了。于是，他問門邊的橡樹究竟發(fā)生了什么事。

原來是它消極厭世、一心求死，因為橡樹覺得自己不如松樹般高大、秀麗。而松樹為自己不如葡萄藤那般結滿豐碩的果實而沮喪。葡萄藤則為自己無法直立，并且無法像桃樹那樣結出上好的果實而想結束生命。天竺葵也焦躁不安，因為它覺得自己不如紫丁香那樣修長、芳香……于是，整個花園都了無生氣。

國王走到一株安心草面前，發(fā)現它仍然神采奕奕，如從前般歡樂。

“你好，安心草，我感到非常高興，所有的草木都對自己失去了信心，只有你能勇敢地生活，沒有絲毫氣餒?！?/p>

“雖然我并沒有什么值得驕傲的東西，但我想，如果你想要一棵橡樹、松樹、桃樹，或葡萄，或天竺葵、丁香，你就會去種它們，而因為我知道你想要一株安心草，所以我決心盡我所能做一株最好的安心草。