Once upon a time, a silkworm wove a special dress for a girl. It was incredibly thin, light, and had the most stunning laces. What’s more, it was no ordinary dress. It possessed some magic powers: the woman who wore it became even more attractive. Of no less value was another magical attribute: any woman who wore the dress could go without food for days. The woman wore it and then lent it to her friend. Her friend also used it and lent it to another woman. And so it went. They all rejoiced, looking at each other because they wanted to see beauty multiplied, so that the world could be full of beautiful and attractive women.
Then one day, the king chose one of the girls to become his wife. She then insisted that henceforth she would be the only one who would wear the beautiful dress and she would never give it to anyone else. Her friends were taken aback. Some were saddened by her boastfulness and ingratitude. But others got so angry that they went to the palace, began to make a lot of noise, threw stones at the windows, and eventually broke into the palace, found the new queen cowering in a corner, ripped the dress from her hands and tore it to shreds.
All of a sudden, something incredible happened right before the enraged women’s eyes: the hem of the dress turned into a tree trunk with many branches. The shreds of the torn dress flew up to the branches of the tree and turned into swollen pink buds, which instantly grew into broad leaves, forming a dense bushy crown.
And that was how the mulberry tree was born. The fruits of that tree are very sweet and juicy, while silkworms turn the leaves into a very fine silk thread. But they do not simply weave a long thread; they return the same one from which the magical dress was created.
Notes of a Spurkahye Finally Come Home 