Jenny was a bright-eyed, pretty five-year-old girl.
One day at the grocery store, she saw a plastic pearl necklace priced at $2.50. She desperately wanted it. Her mother agreed to buy it, but on the condition that Jenny would do chores to pay for it. Jenny agreed.
Jenny worked hard on her chores every day and soon earned enough money to pay off the necklace. She loved her pearls dearly and wore them everywhere—except in the shower, as her mother warned they might turn her neck green.
Jenny had a loving father who read her a bedtime story every night. One night after the story, he asked, "Jenny, do you love me?"
"Oh yes, Daddy, you know I love you," she replied.
"Well, then, give me your pearls."
"Oh! Daddy, not my pearls!" Jenny exclaimed. "But you can have Rosy, my favorite doll, and her tea party outfit."
"That's okay," her father said, kissing her cheek goodnight.
A week later, he asked the same question after her story. Again, Jenny offered her favorite toy horse, Ribbons, instead of the pearls. Her father declined with a kiss and a blessing.
Several days later, when her father came to read, Jenny was sitting on her bed, her lip trembling. She held out her hand, opened it, and let her beloved plastic necklace slip into her father's hand.
With one hand, her father held the plastic pearls. With the other, he pulled from his pocket a blue velvet box. Inside were real, beautiful pearls. He had been waiting for Jenny to give up the cheap imitation so he could give her the genuine treasure.