Reason of Happiness

Old Gregory lived alone in his cottage, he had no family, he never had any.

The cottage he lived in was by the creek and had a beautiful garden. He toiled the soil himself, planted beautiful flowering plants, saplings and fruit plants.

His garden was beautiful, and he cared for it and let no trespasser pass through.

The birds flocked together and sang on the branches of the trees, they chirped and flew by across the garden, squirrels squeaked and raced across the entire proximity of the garden during spring, when the summer came, beautiful flowers blossomed on the plants and trees, butterflies flew spreading their colorful wings.

But Old Gregory never smiled. He was always sad.... the squirrels played near him in the yard, he took no notice of them, he never "hushed" them, the birds flew over his head chirping, he took no notice of them. The vines grew higher to his balcony he took no notice of them, the colorful butterflies could not shake him from his sadness.

But when the children came to play in his garden, he looked at them angrily and hushed them out, "Children will destroy my garden, they will swing on the branches, break them, steal fruits, tear off the vines

No neighbors visited him, all were scared of this selfish man. He never entertained any human in his garden.

Then the time of fall came, and all the animals and birds started collecting food for the winters.

The leaves fell, the plants grew weak, the flowers ceased to blossom. The butterflies did not fly over.

The fruits were ripened and fell.

Gregory took no notice of them.

When winters came by, the garden was covered with thick white snow......

Old Gregory sat by the fire; he rocked in his rocking chair with an unamused face.

He was unhappy, no one visited him, no one took care of him, he was lonely and old. He hated people, "People are selfish, family will only take care of someone if they get something in return. "He thought.

His siblings had cheated him, his nephews and nieces never took care of him.

He had no friend, no relative, no child.

He had been in great thoughts.... he had always served the God, he was a God-fearing man, but he was left alone, in his last days he was all lonely....

Then the Christmas came, the town was decorated with beautiful lights, Christmas trees, gifts, snowflakes, stars and bells.

Every house smelled of freshly baked cakes, pastries and cookies.

Everyone received and shared gifts.

Old Gregory sat by the fire....still sad...when suddenly there was a cry in his snow cladded garden. A cry of a baby, he staggered towards the cry.... swaddled in a nice warm blanket there lay a beautiful child, old Gregory was silent, he lifted the child in his arms and looked here and there, "Is anyone there?" He called out. There was no response.

He called out again, "Is anyone there?"

The whizzing wind passed by echoing his voice.

Not a human was seen. He took the child to the warmth of his fireplace.

The child was little, old Gregory looked into his eyes.... dark blue eyes as deep as the ocean, the complexion was fairer than the word itself as if spreading out a ray......a ray of hope! Suddenly it started playing with his overgrown beard.

He brought his face near to the child's face to have a better look ......busy with its game the child started smiling.... a smile that spread happiness, old Gregory imitated it, this was the first time a smile spread across his face, he felt an eternal happiness, and happiness he cannot be devoid off.

He has received the best gift of Christmas; he was happy, and he had reasons to be happy.