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She always dreamed of children, the white wedding dress, the loving husband and a happy old age. She hoped, that the happiness itself sooner or later would find her. She had many men: handsome, intelligent, rich, but for some unknown reason relation with them always came to an end not how she wanted. All of them madly loved her - they showered her with flowers, jewelry, wrote verses, but she did not give her love to anybody.
When relations drew to a close, it frequently was tragic: Some became mad, others fell up to a level of an animal, and the third kill themselves. Not understanding why so occurs, the girl went to a love tree. They said, that it had helped many people to find happiness, and the girl piously trusted in it.
Next morning she fited everything she need out start on her journey. She went for a long time. There were dense pitch-dark woods, marshy fetid bogs, the deep and fast rivers on her way, but in spite of everything, she continued her way. Very much she wanted to find this tree, any obstacle could not stop her.
Many years of wanderings passed, and the girl still could not find the love tree. Years have transformed once a beauty into the decrepit gray-haired old woman. Once, almost having grown weak, she saw the familiar house. She came closer and understood, that she returned on the same place, wherefrom she started her long way a lot of years back. The old woman sat on a porch of a ramshackle house and began to cry.
And suddenly in the middle of the yard she saw a small dry sapling. There was no leaflet on it, birds did not sit on it, flying by past, and the sun did not warm it with its beams. The old woman stood up from a porch and came to it.
- I do not remember, that if I planted you, - the exhausted old woman whispered to herself.
- But I remember you, - answered the sapling unexpectedly.
The old woman scaredly shrank back and, overcoming her fear, faltering, asked:
- Who are you?
- Can’t you guess? I am that love tree.
- How it can be?! - screamed the old woman crying. - I bypassed the whole wide world in searches of you, and you all this time were here?!
- Silly woman, I waited for you and knew, that sooner or later you would return, to this place, but nevertheless I hoped, that it never happen. Alas …
- Why? I wanted your help so much, I dreamed of meeting with you! All my hopes were connected to you!
- You searched not so much for me, but for a lot of happiness, but all these years you were blind and silly.
- What are you speaking about?! Look at me! who I look like - unnecessary old woman. And all it because once I believed in your existence.
- Yes, it is truth, but you never trusted in that force that had grown me. Therefore there is only decrepit, dry sapling before you.
- What force you speak about?
- I speak about force which you disparaged all your life and you could not appreciate it, when it was shared with you unselfishly. And if you at least once could reciprocate it than you would not search for me. If you even now do not understand, what I speak about, I can already help nothing to you.
The old woman kneeled, clasped her head with hands and begun to cry stronger, mumbling through tears:
- You speak about love. How silly I am!
- Yes, about love.
- But … but you know, - the old woman faltered. - I could not fall in love under protest!
- You are mistaken. Will has nothing to do with it. Just you never wanted love, and did not trust in it. You dreamed to wear a wedding dress, but not for the husband, but for yourself, for friends and relatives, for everyone, except for him. You wanted to have baby but only because you were afraid that you would never have it; because others had it. Whether you wanted to hear its laughter, crying and to see shine of innocent eyes? No!
You wished to make the man happy, but not during that moment when he was already near to you, but when he would become such as you wanted him to see, drawing an image of an ideal, looking to another's husbands. You did not want to accept sincere, unselfish care, wishing not to feel yourself obliged, but in the same time you imposed yours, mercenary, and then covered with it in other people eyes to expect for understanding at the moment of own mistakes.
During quarrels you sought consolation in embraces of the stranger while the man who actually loved you suffered, looking for ways to reconciliation, not knowing about yours treason.
You accused others of lie, and it coverlets your own. You never left for ever, you left, to continue further your severe game by souls and ideas of those whose heart still loved you and kept in memory. But, thinking, that you go forward, actually you went around, each time coming back to that place, wherefrom you began your way.
And here the old woman realized everything. Not the earth she passed around, but her life she lived on a circle. In her mind there was only one question:
- But if in my life there was no love how then you appeared?
- Oh no, there was love in your life … to yourself! I was given birth by love of those whom you had rejected. I have never felt your love.
Last tear trickle down on the wrinkles cheek of the old woman. She lay down to the ground near the sapling, closed her tired of tears eyes and … her heart stopped. Sapling bent above the woman, clasped her with spilling branches and together with a body turned to a dust, not brairding a sprout of new life.
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