"Once upon a time there was a king who ruled a small kingdom. It wasn't great, and it wasn't really known for its resources or people. But the king did have a diamond, a great perfect diamond that had been in the family for generations. He kept it on display for all to see and appreciate. People came from all over the country to admire and gaze at it. Word of it spread to neighboring countries, and more people came to look at it. Soon the people felt the diamond was theirs; it gave them a sense of pride, of dignity, of worth.

"One day a soldier came to the king with news that, although no one had touched the diamond, for it was guarded night and day, the diamond was cracked. The king ran to seem and sure enough there was a crack right through the middle of the diamond.

"Immediately the king summoned all the jewelers of the land and had them look at the diamond. One after another they examined it and gave the bad news to the king: the diamond was irredeemably flawed. The king was crushed, as were the people. Somehow they felt they had lost everything.

"Then out if nowhere came an old man who claimed to be a jeweler. He asked to see the diamond. After examining it, he looked up and confidently told the king, 'I can fix it. In fact, I can make it better than it was before.' The king was shocked and a bit leery. But the old man said, 'Give me the jewel, and in a week I'll bring it back fixed.'

"Now, the king was not about to let the stone out of his sight, even if it was ruined, so he gave the old man a room, all the tools and food and drink he needed, and he waited. The whole kingdom waited. It was a long week.

"At the end of the week the old man appeared with the stone in his hand and gave it to the king. The king couldn't believe his eyes. It was magnificent. The old man had fixed it, and he had made it even better than it was before! He had used the crack that ran through the middle of the stone as a stem and carved an intricate, full-blown rose, leaves, and thorns into the diamond. It was exquisite.

"The king was overjoyed and offered the old man half of his kingdom. He had taken something beautiful and once perfect and improved upon it! But the old man refused in front of everyone, saying, "I didn't do that at all. What I did was to take something flawed and cracked at its heart and turn it into something beautiful.”