One day a young man was standing in the middle of the town proclaiming that he had the most beautiful heart in the whole valley. A large crowd gathered, and they all admired his heart for it was perfect. There was not a flaw in it.
　　Suddenly, an old man appeared and said, “Why, your heart is not nearly as beautiful as mine.”
　　The crowd and the young man looked at the old man’s heart. It was full of scars, it had places where pieces had been removed and other pieces put in, but they didn’t fit quite right, and there were several jagged edges. In fact, in some places there were deep gouges where whole pieces were missing.
　　The young man laughed. “Comparing your heart with mine, mine is perfect and yours is a mess of scars.”
　　“Yes,” said the old man,“Yours looks perfect but I would never trade with you. You see, every scar represents a person to whom I have given my love. I tear out a piece of my heart and give it to them, and often they give me a piece of their heart that fits into the empty place in my heart.
　　But because the pieces aren’t exact, I have some rough edges, which I cherish, because they remind me of the love we shared.
　　“Sometimes I have given pieces of my heart away, and the other person hasn’t returned a piece of his or her heart to me. These are the empty gouges —— giving love is taking a chance.
　　Although these gouges are painful, they stay open, reminding me of the love I have for those people too, and I hope someday they may return and fill the space I have waiting. So now do you see what true beauty is?”
　　The young man walked up to the old man, reached into his perfect heart, and ripped a piece out. He offered it to the old man.
　　The old man placed it in his heart, then took a piece from his old scarred heart and placed it in the wound in the young man’s heart. It fit, but not perfectly, as there were some jagged edges.
　　The young man looked at his heart, not perfect anymore but more beautiful than ever, since love from the old man’s heart flowed into his.
　　
　　一天，一位年轻人站在城镇的中央，宣布他的心是整个山谷中最美丽的心。围观的人很多，他们都称赞年轻人的心的确是完美无缺，并没有一点伤痕瑕疵。
　　突然，一位老人出现在人群中，说：“你的心不如我的美丽。”
　　围观者和年轻人都朝老人的心看去：它布满了伤疤，有的地方被挖去又重新填补上，但修补得不甚完整，留下一些参差不齐的疤痕。实际上，有的地方缺失了整块，甚至露出很深的豁口。
　　年轻人笑了起来：“我俩的心相比，我的是那么完美，而你的却是一堆伤疤。”
　　“是的，”老人说，“你的心从表面来看很完美，但我绝不会跟你交换。你看，每个伤疤都代表我为别人献出的一份爱——我掏出一块心给他们，他们常常会掏出自己的一块回赠给我，以填补我的空缺。
　　但由于这两块不完全一样，伤口的边缘就留下了疤痕，不过我十分珍惜这些疤痕，因为它们使我想起我们共同拥有的爱心。
　　“有时我送出了一瓣心，其他人并没有回赠给我，因此就出现了这些豁口——献出爱也是需要冒风险的。
　　尽管这些豁口很疼，我还是让它们敞开着，因为它们能使我想起我付出的爱。我希望有一天，得到爱的人们能够回来填补上我心里的空间。你现在明白什么是真正的美丽了吧？"
　　年轻人默默走近老人，把手伸进自己完美的心中，撕下一块来，把它献给这位老人。
　　老人接过馈赠，把它放进自己的心里。然后他从自己疤痕累累的心里掏出一块，放在年轻人心里的那个伤口上。正好放进去，但不是特别吻合，也出现了一些疤痕。
　　年轻人看着自己的心，看起来不再完美但比以前更美丽了，因为老人心中的爱也流淌到了他的心里。