Page 20 - SPRING 2024 News and Views

One Spring Rosemary Brown

On the banks of a fine river, a small village grew up in a valley surrounded by three hills.

In time, the farmers who lived there decided to build a place of worship high on one the three hills. When
it was almost ready, someone suggested that it would be good to fill their church with yellow flowers.
Yellow was not only the colour of the sun, the bringer of light, but of gold, the incorruptible precious
metal. And it was agreed. Years passed and the people of the church started to wear badges, brooches
and pendants featuring golden chrysanthemums as symbols of their devotion.

Another generation came to worship at the church of yellow flowers. Among them was a young man
who felt a deep affinity to the colour blue. He pointed out that blue was the shade of the sky,
representing the heavens above, and of the river whose waters they all depended upon. Surely azure
flowers should be used to beautify their church. This suggestion was viewed as verging on blasphemy by
the worshippers at the church of yellow flowers, so the young man was banished from their community.

Undaunted, he set about finding a group of others who felt as strongly as he did about the colour blue.
As soon as there were enough of them to form a congregation, they began to build a structure for
worship on the second hill. It was filled with all kinds of sapphire-tinted blossoms, and its worshippers
started to wear jewellery depicting forget-me-nots.

They were proud to relate the story of how they had successfully broken away from the church of the
yellow flowers, not realising what might happen next. Very soon, a woman proposed that red flowers
should be used in the church instead of blue. After all, red was the colour of the heart, symbolising love,
and blood, representing the flow of human life. Clearly, red was superior to blue.

Her wild notion was rejected so she left to form her own group of those committed to crimson. Luckily,
there was still a vacant hill on which they could construct their place to meet for worship. On their
clothes they wore intricate badges with a design of scarlet poppies.

There was no love lost among the congregations of the yellow, blue and red flowers.

As time passed the village grew into a small town. Trade flowed up and down the river, bringing with it a
wealth of different ideas. It was most disconcerting.

A couple opened their home to some friends; they discussed the aspects of the three colours, and found
much to empathise with. However, some of the friends had travelled widely, and brought back plants of
myriad shades: pink, mauve, purple, orange, white and more. Each had unique qualities of form,
fragrance and habit. It gradually became clear to the group that they did not wish to discard any of them.

Their views caused great offence to each of the three established communities, who firmly closed their
doors against multi-colourism. As there was no high ground left on which to build a place for worship, the
couple and their friends considered the valley. It was fertile land, but prone to flooding. To erect and
maintain a building there would consume the group’s resources far into the future. Yet what else could
they do?

One autumn morning, as they sat together silently contemplating the situation, the same simple idea
came to them all. Over the following months, they went out walking, carrying spades. If they could not

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