Sati & Nanda and the Missing Marigold

The morning sun had just begun to warm the monastery garden when Sati and Nanda were asked to help prepare flowers for the shrine.

A basket of bright orange marigolds sat between them.

Sati, the older of the two, carefully lifted each flower and placed it into a small golden bowl.

“One… two… three…”

Nanda was supposed to be helping.

Instead, he was watching a tiny green lizard climb the temple wall.

“Nanda,” Sati said.

“I am helping.”

“You are watching a lizard.”

“I can do both.”

Sati looked at Nanda’s empty bowl.

“Can you?”

Nanda looked down.

“Oh.”

He quickly grabbed a marigold.

Sati smiled and continued counting.

“Ten… eleven…”

Then he stopped.

He counted again.

“Ten… eleven…”

Nanda leaned over the basket.

“What?”

“There were twelve.”

Nanda’s eyes widened.

“One is missing?”

“Yes.”

Nanda stood up immediately.

“A mystery.”

“It is a flower.”

“It can be both.”

Before Sati could answer, Nanda was already searching.

He looked under the table.

Behind a cushion.

Inside an empty basket.

Sati stayed where he was.

He looked at the floor.

Then he noticed something.

A tiny orange petal.

Then another.

And another.

They led toward the open doorway.

“Nanda.”

“I found nothing.”

Sati pointed.

Nanda crawled out from under the table.

“Oh.”

The two boys followed the trail through the courtyard.

Past the lotus pond.

Around the bell pavilion.

And beneath the old tamarind tree.

There, stretched comfortably in the shade, was the monastery’s black cat.

Between his front paws lay the missing marigold.

A few petals were scattered around him.

Nanda gasped.

“He took it!”

The cat blinked.

“And played with it,” Nanda said.

The cat rolled onto his side.

Sati crouched beside him.

“He probably thought it was a toy.”

Nanda picked up the marigold.

Its stem was bent, and several petals were missing.

“He ruined it.”

Sati looked at the cat.

“I don’t think he knew it was for the shrine.”

Nanda frowned.

“But he still took it.”

The cat stretched and rubbed his head against Nanda’s knee.

Nanda tried very hard to remain angry.

It was difficult.

When they returned, Venerable Anurak was waiting.

“We found it,” Nanda announced.

“Where was it?”

Sati pointed toward the courtyard.

“The kitty cat took it.”

“And played with it,” Nanda added. “Under the tamarind tree.”

He held up the bent flower.

Venerable Anurak looked at the marigold.

Then at the cat, who had followed them back inside.

Nanda crossed his arms.

“Should he be punished?”

Venerable Anurak looked at him.

“Why do you think he should be?”

“He took something that wasn’t his.”

“That is true.”

“And he ruined it.”

Venerable Anurak nodded.

“Did he know the flower was meant for the shrine?”

Nanda looked at the cat.

The cat sat down and began washing one paw.

“No.”

“Did he understand that taking it was wrong?”

Nanda shook his head.

“No.”

Venerable Anurak smiled gently.

“Then what would punishment teach him?”

Nanda thought about that.

Sati answered first.

“Probably nothing.”

Venerable Anurak nodded.

“Sometimes something needs to be corrected. But correction and punishment are not always the same thing.”

Nanda looked at the flower.

“So what should we do?”

Sati said, “Next time we keep the flowers somewhere he cannot reach.”

“That would help,” Venerable Anurak said.

Nanda looked at the cat again.

“So I don’t have to be angry with him?”

“You may still feel angry,” Venerable Anurak said. “Feelings come and go. What matters is what you choose to do with them.”

Nanda crouched beside the cat.

The cat immediately rubbed against his hand.

“You are lucky you are cute.”

Sati laughed.

“He still does not look sorry.”

The cat purred.

“No,” Nanda said. “Not even a little.”

Sati carried the bowl to the shrine.

Nanda followed with the bent marigold.

He looked at it for a moment.

It was missing a few petals.

Its stem leaned to one side.

It did not look like the others.

“Can we still use it?” he asked.

Venerable Anurak smiled.

“What do you think?”

Nanda carefully placed the flower into the bowl.

“It is still a marigold.”

Sati adjusted it gently among the others.

“And it is still beautiful.”

Nanda picked up one of the fallen petals and placed it beside the flower.

“That can be part of the offering too.”

Venerable Anurak nodded.

Behind them, the black cat sat in the doorway.

Watching.

Waiting.

And probably wondering where his flower had gone.