Once, long ago, there was a young boy who lived in a distant land called Tandow. He was a cheerful lad with not a care in the world. A special friend had he, the little blue hummingbird. Now this little boy didn't have a lot of great friends, but the little bird and the boy were inseparable friends. The boy loved the little humming bird, so he built him a home. The bird also loved the boy and would follow him wherever he would go. As time went by their love grew and grew.

Then one day the young lad met a pretty young girl in school. The girl had long blonde hair, blue eyes, and a cute little smile. This was about the time of the biggest dance of the year. All the boy could think about was how he would love to take the girl to the dance. He gathered his courage all day and at the end of school confronted the girl and asked her to go with him to the dance.

Now this young girl was very popular and felt she did not want to be seen with the boy who cared for her so, but she did not want to hurt his feelings and so figured out a way to avoid saying no or yes. She told the boy if he brought her a red rose she would allow him to escort her to the dance.

This hurt the little boy because he knew that in the land of Tandow there had never been a red rose. In fact, the only roses in the land Tandow were white. On the way home the boy kept mumbling to himself why couldn't she have asked for a white rose. There were hundreds of them in his front yard.

Feeling sorry for himself the boy didn't even notice his friend the hummingbird fluttering above him. Now the bird loved him so, that it could tell instantly the boy was troubled. The bird hovered closer as the boy mumbled on home. Now the bird knew why the boy was so troubled. The bird could not rest all the night long, it pondered all night, a solution to the boy's problem.

Finally as the sun began to rise the answer to how the bird could help his best friend entered his mind. The little blue hummingbird flew to a rose bush and searched for a large rose with a stem bearing thorns directly above it. Now the bird chose a thorn and with all the power in his wings cast his small body against the sharp thorn. It entered with great pain, as the tear drops of blood fell upon the white petals of the rose.

Now as the boy was ready for school, as he left the house he saw a red rose, he could hardly believe it, he ran to the bush and plucked the red rose. In his excitement he failed to notice the lifeless little body that lay below the bush in a puddle of blood. Happy as could be, he began with his red rose on his way to school. Before he got there some other boys playing football in a field called to him and asked him to come and play.

His first thought was, no, he had something more important to do. But they begged him and said they really needed him to even the teams. He looked at the rose, then them, then back at the rose. He said to himself. Ah!!! She didn't really want to go with me anyway. Then, throwing the rose down, the boy went and played football.

You've probably already figured out the allegory...

1. The boy is each of us.
2. The humming bird is Jesus Christ.
3. The girl is eternal life.
4. The rose is the atonement.
5. The football game is the worldly things we sometimes feel are so important.

Reviews:
**** [Jan 16, 2008] by Andrew
I have never heard this story before, but I feel is enapsulates the world we live in today. Unfortunately people could not care less about the price Christ paid although we ought to cherish it!

***** [Dec 02, 2006] by Lisa
I disagree with the other reviews. I heard this story told recently and it has changed my perspective on Christ's atonement for me...do I forget what He has done for me and continue on my way, when I am not in a trial? M children all understood this story and have talked about it since. The writing was not the best, but the message was.

* [Apr 16, 2002] by Jess
Soo... Eternal Life is just looking for a nice way to let you down? And if you take the rose, Eternal Life has to go with you to the dance, where she will probably do something to publically humiliate you before sneaking off with another guy? How very sweet.

* [Dec 06, 2001] by Kelly
What the... anyway... poorly written, and...well... not uplifting, and I thought that was the goal of this website.