The Most Beautiful Woman in the World: A Russian Folk Tale

One day during harvest time, a little girl got separated from her mother. She was running around, crying and shouting out for her. People felt sorry for her and tried to help. Everyone started bombarding her with questions, like what her mother’s name was, how she looked like, what she was wearing, plus a dozen other questions as well. All this was pretty overwhelming for the little girl. This only made her cry even more. Finally, in response to all their questions, she had one simple answer, “My mother is the most beautiful woman in the whole world!”

Ahh, that narrowed it down a bit, people thought. They started rounding out the good-looking women and had them stand in a row. There were blondes, redheads and brunettes. Some had eyes of blue, others hazel, and the rest, brown and green. They were undoubtedly the prettiest girls that anyone could find. Surely, one among those bevy of beauties had to be the child’s mother.

One by one, the women were presented to the little girl. The little girl looked at every single one and shook her head each time. Finally, they came to the last person.

“Is this your mother?”

The little girl looked at the beauty before her, shook her head and burst into tears. “I told you, my mother is the most beautiful woman in the whole world!!!”

Suddenly, the crowd saw a woman huffing and puffing towards them.

“I am that child’s mother!”

Everyone turned around to take a good look at her. She was short and stocky, and had a round, plesant face with sparkling eyes. She was not a conventional beauty, but the love emanating from her face made her luminous. She rushed over to the little girl, scooped her up in her arms, and covered her with kisses, all the while thanking everyone for keeping her child safe. The little girl, her tears now replaced by a big smile, told everyone triumphantly, “I told you my mother was the most beautiful woman in the whole world!”

To everyone else, the woman cradling the little girl was plain and ordinary, but to her little girl, she was indeed, without question, the most beautiful woman in the whole world. As people went home that day, they looked at their family with more appreciation, humbled by a little girl who taught them a very valuable lesson: We do not love people because they are beautiful. They are beautiful because we love them.