Pointy petal Chrysanthemum-macro photo

These big pompom-like Chrysanthemums with their narrow, pointy petals remember me of a sweet story I've read one of these days.

Here is the story:

On a beautiful moonlit night a young girl wandered in a garden. She gathered a blossom and began to pull off its petals one by one to see whether or not her lover cared. Suddenly, a little elf appeared before her, assuring her that she was very much adored. He said, "Your beloved will become your husband and he will live as many years as the flower, which you choose, has petals." When the elf had disappeared, the maiden began to search for a flower with the greatest number of petals. At length she picked a Persian carnation, and with a golden hairpin she separated each petal into two or three parts. Soon her deft fingers had increased the number of folioles of the corolla to three times the original number, and she wept with joy to think of the happiness she had brought her future husband. Thus it was that the kiku, or chrysanthemum, came into being many centuries ago in a garden where the moon shone over the flowers and glistened on the streams and little bamboo bridges.

source: Theosophy Trust

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