The Pea Blossom Five peas in a shell discover their destinies..

Once upon a time, there were five peas in a pod. They were all green, as was their pod, and naturally assumed the whole world must be green too. The pod grew, the peas grew, and they adapted to their situation, sitting side by side in a row. The sun shone outside, warming the pod and making it transparent and clear; the weather was mild and enjoyable during the day, and dark at night, as usual. As the peas sat there, they grew larger and began to think more deeply, feeling there must be something more they ought to do.

"Are we to sit here forever?" one of them asked. "Won't we become hardened by sitting for so long? I feel there must be something beyond, I am sure of it."

Weeks passed, and the peas turned yellow, as did their pod.

"I believe the whole world is turning yellow," they said, and perhaps they were right.

Suddenly, they felt a pull of fate as they were plucked, torn from their pod, and placed into human hands, then into a pocket of a jacket with other assorted items.

"We will be opened soon," one of them said, hopeful.

"I wonder who among us will travel the farthest," said the youngest of the five. "We shall soon see."

"What will be, will be," said the eldest pea.

The pod cracked when it burst open, and the five peas rolled into the bright sunlight. They found themselves in the hands of a child—a little boy who held them tightly, proclaiming them good peas for his pea-shooter. Immediately, one was placed in the shooter and launched.

"Now I shall fly into the wide world," he said. "Catch me if you can!" And in a moment, he was gone.

"I intend to fly straight to the sun, as it appears just the right fit," said the second, before being launched.

"We will sleep wherever we find ourselves," said the next two. Indeed, they fell to the ground and rolled before entering a pea-sack, but they were placed inside. "We shall go further than the others," they said.

"What will be, will be," the last one shouted as it was fired from the pea-shooter, flying over an old wooden board under a high window and landing in a small crevice filled with moss and soft earth. The moss closed around it, where it lay, a true captive, though unnoticed by God.

In the small garret lived a poor woman who cleaned stoves and chopped wood into small pieces, performing such hard work because she was strong and diligent. Yet she remained poor, and in the garret at home lay her only daughter, who had not grown up and was extremely sensitive and weak. She lay in bed all year round, as if she could neither live nor die.

"She will go to her little sister," said the woman. "I only had two children, and it wasn't easy to support both; but the good Lord helped me in my work, and took one for himself, providing for her needs. Now I would gladly keep the one I have left, but I don't think they should be separated, and my sick daughter will soon go to her sister upstairs." But the sick girl lay where she was, quietly and patiently, lying in bed all day while her mother was away at work.

Spring arrived, and on one early morning the sun shone brightly through the small window, casting its rays across the floor of the room. As the mother went on her way to work, the sick girl gazed down at the lower window ledge and cried out, "Mother, what is this little green thing poking out of the window? It's moving in the wind."

The mother approached the window, half opening it, and said, "Oh, there is indeed a little pea sprout with its roots anchored and beginning to bring forth green leaves. How did it manage to get into this crevice? Well, here is a small garden for you to enjoy."

She moved the sick girl's bed closer to the window so she could see the budding plant, then went on her way to work.

"Mother, I think I will get better," said the sick child that evening. "The sun shone so strongly and warmly today, and the little peas are growing well. I will improve too, and venture out into the warm sunshine once more."

The mother said, "God bless you!" but she didn't believe it would be so. Still, she supported the little green shoot that gave her sick child such hopeful prospects in life, so the winds wouldn't break it; she tied a piece of string to the window sill and the top of the frame, so the pea tendrils could cling to it as they grew. And grow they did, day by day.

"Now, there's a true blossom coming," said the old woman one morning, finally starting to encourage hope that her sick daughter might truly recover. She remembered how the child had spoken cheerfully for some time, and in the past few days had been getting up in the morning to look with bright eyes at her small pea garden with just one plant. After a week, the sick girl sat up for the first time for a full hour, feeling joyous beside the open window in the warm sunlight, while the pea plant outside flourished, sporting a pink pea flower at its peak. The young girl bent down and gently kissed the delicate leaves. It was a day of celebration for her.

"The nature planted those peas, making them grow and flourish, bringing you joy and hope for me, my blessed child," said the happy mother, smiling at the flower as if it were an angel.

But what happened to the other peas? Why did the pea that flew to the wide world and said, "Catch me if you can!" end up in a watercourse on the roof of a house, finishing its journey in a pigeon's crop? As for the lazy peas, the pigeon had carried them away too, so they were of some use at least. But the fourth pea, wanting to reach the sun, fell into a basin and stayed there in dirty water for days and weeks, swelling to a large size.

The peas said, "I've become beautifully fat, and I expect to burst in the end. I don't think any pea could do more than that; I'm the most wonderful of all five that were in the pod." And the basin agreed.

But the young girl stood at the open garret window, with bright eyes and a rosy health on her cheeks, folding her thin hands over the pea flower, thankful.