A long time ago, before the world was created and humans set
foot on it for the first time, virtues and vices floated around and
were bored, not knowing what to do.
One day, all the vices and virtues were gathered together and were
more bored than ever. Suddenly, Ingenious came up with an idea:
"Let's play hide and seek!" All of them liked the idea and
immediately Madness shouted: "I want to count, I want to
count!"
And since nobody was crazy enough to want to seek Madness, all the
others agreed. Madness leaned against a tree and started to count:
"One, two, three..."
As Madness counted, the vices and virtues went hiding. Tenderness
hung itself on the horn of the moon, Treason hid in a pile of
garbage. Fondness curled up between the clouds and Passion went to
the centre of the earth.
Lie said that it would hide under a stone, but hid at the bottom of
the lake, whilst Avarice entered a sack that he ended up breaking.
And Madness continued to count: "... seventy nine, eighty, eighty
one..."
By this time, all the vices and virtues were already hidden -
except Love. For undecided as Love is, he could not decide where to
hide. And this should not surprise us, because we all know how
difficult it is to hide Love.
Madness: "...ninety five, ninety six, ninety seven..." Just when
Madness got to one hundred, Love jumped into a rose bush where he
hide. And Madness turned around and shouted: "I'm coming, I'm
coming!"
As Madness turned around, Laziness was the first to be found,
because Laziness had no energy to hide. Then he spotted Tenderness
in the horn of the moon, Lie at the bottom of the lake and Passion
at the centre of the earth.
One by one, Madness found them all - except Love. Madness was
getting desperate, unable to find Love. Envious of Love, Envy
whispered to Madness: "You only need to find Love, and Love is
hiding in the rose bush."
Madness grabbed a wooden pitch fork and stabbed wildly at the rose
bush. Madness stabbed and st! abbed until a heartbreaking cry made
him stop. Love appeared from the rose bush, covering his face with
his hands.
Between his fingers ran two trickles of blood from his eyes.
Madness, so anxious to find Love, had stabbed out Love's eyes with
a pitch fork. "What have I done! What have I done!" Madness
shouted. "I have left you blind! How can I repair it?" And Love
answered: "You cannot repair my eyes. But if you want to do
something for me, you can be my guide."
And so it came about that from that day on, Love is blind and is
always accompanied by Madness
