Krilof and His Fables/The Flowers

At the open window of a sumptuous apartment, arranged in vases of many-coloured porcelain, a number of Artificial Flowers waved proudly on their wire stalks—real flowers standing beside them the while—and exhibited their charms to universal admiration.

But, see! a shower has begun to fall. The taffeta Flowers straightway adjure Jupiter, asking if the rain cannot be stopped, abusing and defaming it in every way.

"O Jupiter," they pray, "do put a stop to this shower! What good is there in it? what on earth can be worse than it is? Why, see! walking in the streets is impossible, for it has turned them into nothing but mud and puddles."

But Jupiter gave no heed to their idle prayer, and the shower had it all its own way, dispelled the great heat, and made the air cool. All nature revived, and the verdure on every side seemed to spring up anew.

Then, among other things, the real flowers in the window expanded in all their beauty, fresher for the rain, softer and more fragrant. But by that time the Artificial Flowers, poor things! had lost all their beauty, and they were thrown into the yard as rubbish.

Real talents are not angry with criticism: it cannot injure their charms.

It is only the false flowers that fear the rain.