THE PERFECT HEART

One day a young man walked into the village square and declared that he had the most perfect heart of the whole valley. A crowd gathered around him and everyone admired his heart because it was indeed perfect. No stains, no defects. Yes, they agreed, it was indeed the most beautiful heart they had ever seen. The young man was proud and boasted even more loudly about his beautiful heart. 

Suddenly, an old man appeared stepped slowly out of the crowd and he said aloud: "Listen, your heart is not half as beautiful as mine." The crowd and the young man looked at the heart of the old man. It beat powerfully, but it was also full of scars, it had spots where parts had been removed and replaced by other pieces. But those didn't fit well and there were a few jagged edges. Well, to be precise, in some places there were deep ridges where parts were completely missing. So now, the people were staring at the old man and thinking, how can he claim that his heart is more beautiful?

The proud young man looked at the battered heart of the old man and laughed: "You're joking", he said, "To compare your heart with mine just doesn’t make sense! My heart is perfect and yours is a hodge-podge of scars and tears. "Yes," agreed the old man, " yours does look perfect, but I would never swap with you. Each scar stands for someone to whom I have given my love. I tore out a piece of heart and gave it to them, and often they gave me a piece of their heart that fit in the empty space of mine. But as you can see, they did not always fit perfectly, That is why I also have a few ragged edges. But I appreciate them greatly because they remind me of the love that I've shared.”

The old man continued, “Sometimes I got nothing in return. These are the empty slots that you can see here. Giving love also means taking risk. Sometimes those empty slots hurt and they remain open but they also remind me of the love I have felt for those people. I continue to hope they will return one day and fill in the open spots. Do you recognize now what true beauty is?" 

The young man stood still and tears ran down his cheeks. As he slowly walked toward the old man, he reached into his perfect heart, ripped out a piece and offered it to the old man. The old man took it and tucked it into his heart. Then he carefully took a piece of his old, battered heart and with that piece, he closed the wound in the heart of the young man. It wasn't a perfect fit so there were now a few jagged edges quite visible. The young man looked down at his heart. It was no longer perfect, but he thought it more beautiful than before because he felt the love of the old man run through it. He put his arm around the shoulder of the old man and they walked away together, side by side.

Author: The author is unknown but it is believed to be an Austrian folk tale.  If you enjoyed this story, accept it as a gift from Peterborough Storytellers, make it your own and tell it to others. That's the storytelling tradition. The Storyteller