 Hi everyone! Today's book is titled The Seeds of Peace, and it has fantastic pictures. I up in the mountains, an old hermit lived in a rocky cave. His home was colored by the end of a rainbow. Every day he would sit on his rock and watch the colors play over the valleys and disappear into another land. One day a young man appeared on a silver stallion. He stopped beside the old hermit. Old hermit said the writer, I'm looking for the end of the rainbow. The old hermit smiled and said, where the colors touch my cave is the end of the rainbow. The young writer was shocked. Looking at the hermit's barren home he said, but I live at the other end of the rainbow. There lies the rainbow mansion full of treasures. What treasures lie here? Peace and happiness, replied the old hermit. The young writer was dismayed by the hermit's answer, not finding the treasure he had expected. He followed the rainbow back across the valleys to its other end. Over the years the young writer became a very successful merchant. He now lived in the rainbow mansion and he filled it with even more treasures. But although he was wealthy, he was not happy. One day as he sat in his big office he remembered the old hermit. Perhaps the old hermit can bring me peace and make me happy, he thought. Doesn't he look very happy, does he? The old hermit did not want to leave his cave, but when he was summoned by the merchant he put on his best rags and walked to the other end of the rainbow. Looks very different from where the hermit lives. The merchant was pleased to have the old hermit in the comfort of his mansion. He gave him the best room, a bed with silken sheets, but the old hermit was not comfortable in a bed. And each night he slipped away into the gardens to sleep between the roots of a gentle tree. The merchant offered the old hermit his richest foods to eat and his finest wines to drink. But the old hermit did not like these. Instead he picked the fruits that grew in the gardens and drank from a little stream of running water. The merchant invited great thinkers and important teachers to the rainbow mansion to converse with the old hermit. But the hermit was a simple man and he crept away to talk to the creatures which visited the gardens. The great thinkers and important teachers were so busy trying to impress each other they took no notice. One day the merchant went for a walk in his garden. He found the old hermit sitting under the gentle tree talking to the animals. Old hermit asked the merchant, Why do you not sleep in the room I have given you? The bed is very soft and the sheets are over the finest silk. To this the old hermit replied, All my life I have slept in the arms of nature. I do not fear her darkness and her nighttime whispers give me good dreams. The merchant did not understand the old hermit. But why don't you eat the rich food or drink the fine wines? The old hermit smiled and said, By eating a little of the simple foods I can taste the goodness that grows from the earth. And the clear spring water does not make me feel giddy in the head and say foolish things. Do you notice how the animals are smiling? The merchant was puzzled by this answer. Looking at the old hermit he asked, Why do you talk to these simple creatures and ignore the wise men? I have invited them to converse with you. The old hermit smiled again. He looked at the animals around him and said, All the creatures of this world have something to say. It does not mean they are fools because they live simple lives. After this last answer the merchant went back to his office. I asked the hermit here to bring me peace and to make me happy, he thought. But instead he speaks to me with words which I do not understand. After a while he called the old hermit to him. Old hermit, can you bring me peace? I cannot, he replied the old hermit. Can you make me happy? No, I cannot, he said again. Why? asked the merchant. The old hermit looked at the sad merchant and said, Peace comes from within you. It's like a seed. You cannot force it to grow or shape it into something you want it to be. You must give it love and freedom so that it can grow outward into something pure and beautiful. Only then will you know true happiness. The sad merchant was silent for a while and then he asked, How do I start? The old hermit smiled and said, By letting me go back to my cave where I belong. So the old hermit was allowed to go back to the cave he loved to sit beneath the falling colors of the rainbow with a smile he would look across the valleys to the other end of the rainbow and know that the seeds of peace had begun to grow there. Thanks for joining.