Once upon a time Nasruddin was very excited about growing a garden in his front yard. It included vegetables and flowers. But when the plants started coming up, so did an enormous crop of bright yellow flowers called dandelions among them. There were many stories of how this beautiful little flower can very quickly ‘take over’ your entire garden. Nasruddin consulted with other gardeners in his village, near and far, but none of their solutions worked in getting rid of this dandelion weed.
Nasruddin decided to travel to the palace of the Sheikh who ruled his region to seek the knowledge and wisdom of the Royal Gardener. Nasruddin traveled many days by foot to the Sheikh’s palace. The meeting day arrived when Nasruddin and the Master Gardener shared their information with each other. Together they shared all of the recommended methods for eradicating these troublesome plants: poison, digging them up, collecting the flowers, gathering the seeds before they floated everywhere, natural remedies like boiling water and vinegar.
Silently, the two gardeners sat together on the low wall that surrounded the Palace Gardens, looking at the gardens and the clear blue sky for a good long time. At last, the Royal Gardener looked at Nasruddin and said, “Well, the only thing I can suggest is that you learn to love them.”