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First Encounter of Love

In a beautiful garden, a kind shepherd girl met a handsome beloved. Her skin was darkened by the sun because she had been laboring hard in the vineyards. Yet the beloved said to her, “You are the most beautiful.” The girl’s heart was filled with joy; she wanted to find where the beloved rested so she could be with him often. The beloved gently told her that by following the sheep’s footprints she would find him. They sat on the lush, green grass beneath a bower of cedar and pine. The beloved praised the girl with the most beautiful words, saying her eyes were like gentle doves. The girl replied that the beloved was the most handsome in the world. They admired and cherished each other, like two flowers blooming together in the same garden. This sincere love made the whole world warm and beautiful.