Credit: DH Illustration
‘Beauty is bought by judgement of the eye”
This beautiful quote by William Shakespeare reminds me of an intriguing Russian folk tale.
During a fair, a little girl got separated from her mother. Panic-stricken, the little girl began to wail so loudly that the heads of the passersby turned toward her. Taking pity on that girl, a small crowd had gathered around her.
Everyone started questioning her about the particulars of her mother. After a lot of cajoling, the little girl spoke in between sobs that her mother was the most beautiful woman ever to be seen. The crowd around reassured the frightened little girl that her mother could be easily traced with the clue she had given.
People started searching high and low in the carnival for the most beautiful woman. When they lined up some women whom they thought were beautiful, the little girl wailed with all her might saying that her mother was even more beautiful. The people were at a loss and were confused as to what to do next to help the tiny one.
Suddenly, the people saw a woman running towards them. The little girl’s eyes brightened up and the crowd saw a happy reunion. On a closer look, the little one’s mother was a very plain-looking woman. She was short and fat and was not anywhere near the conventional notion of ‘beautiful’. The girl turned towards the crowd and declared,”This is my mother and look how beautiful she looks.” Not a single one in the crowd could stop the tears welling up in their eyes.
Well! On further thought, does beauty have a concrete, universal definition? What may seem beautiful to one person may not be so for another. In other words, the perception of beauty is subjective - people can have differing opinions on what is beautiful.
God has bestowed on all human beings with a complex personality. How is it possible for one individual to see things in the same light as that of the other? All said and done, beauty, of course, lies in the eyes of the beholder, does it not?