From the author: I wrote this parable for the chapter of the certification (graduation) work on Positive Psychotherapy. I like it so much that I decided to publish it. Read, feel with your heart, draw conclusions... The parable was published on the website www.triya.uaprom.net on December 29, 2009. With love and best wishes, Irina Selivanovskaya. Once upon a time there lived a forest people. They were very, very small, like little fairies, but they had no wings. Wings grew only on those who found Love - and then he could fly - fly like a bird. But those who had not yet found it - those did not have wings, they could only jump from twig to twig, from blade of grass to blade of grass. They were very airy and transparent and each of them dreamed of finding Love. Those who found Love and wings flew in pairs, beloved with beloved. The picture was especially beautiful in the spring - when all the couples were spinning in the air and their wings made a subtle ringing sound, similar to the sound of small silver bells. And there was one girl there, her name was Ari and she also really wanted to fly up and join the huge general dance of lovers. Since childhood, she had a friend Natoref, they often climbed to the top of the tree and dreamed. She had no idea that her childhood friend had been in love with her for a long time. They trusted each other with any secrets, but he always kept this secret to himself and did not tell anyone. Ari knew what her lover should look like, she imagined him, transparent, shimmering with all the colors of the rainbow, and, of course, he should be slim and beautiful. He must have wonderful manners and he must always sing songs of love to her. And then one day, climbing the tallest tree and looking far into the forest, at the tops of other trees, she saw a flashing ray in the rays of the rising sun. Her little heart beat rapidly in the joyful excitement of the upcoming meeting. She fixed her gaze on the beam - and saw Him. He and she - they rushed towards each other and now they were together everywhere, they did not part. He had a beautiful voice and sang songs about Love to her. His name was Ashel and he really shimmered in the sun with all the colors of the rainbow. And the wings began to grow, but - small... - hers, and his - nothing grew. She was ready to take off, but he still didn’t even have small wings. And then she decided that she would keep him in her flight. The fact is that she began to glow and glowed and warmed in the darkness, and in her light it also shimmered with the colors of the rainbow, but this light came from her. And he kept admiring his tints, whether they were from the sun or from the light of Ari. Ari began to try to fly with him, she hoped that when she lifted him into flight, he would begin to grow wings. It was very difficult for her, she rose higher and higher, but her wings did not grow. One day, when they were flying, Ashel wanted Ari to lift him up to the very sun, so that he would shimmer there even brighter and, perhaps, would eclipse the sun itself. He didn't realize that his light was just a reflection. They were rising, but suddenly a cloud flew in, a strong hail began and beat Ari’s tender wings. And she fell down. She could no longer fly, could no longer carry Ashel with her. And now he no longer looked at her, her heart stopped glowing, and he no longer reflected her light. Ari decided to climb to the top of the tallest tree for the last time to say goodbye to a life that she could no longer imagine without love. She stood at the top, on the highest branch, and looked at the sun, at the birds, at the circling pairs of lovers, and her beaten wings hung helplessly. Ari knew that they would no longer straighten up and she would not join those lovers whose bell of wings filled the forest. Her little heart sank and she slid down, aiming straight for the ground. But she didn’t fly down, she was picked up by some force, by someone’s strong hands. She could not come to her senses, but only felt them rising up and up. They rose.