a shell

deep in the sea, camouflaged with brown, grey and black, barely visible on the sandy ground, hiding it's greatest treasure: it's inner content. A hard case, often tightly closed around soft living flesh. The most precious shells are those who once have swallowed something hurting – a sandkorn for example. A shell has no lips to spit it out so she has to live with it. To make it less hurting she clothes it in layers of perlmutt, around and around. After a very, very long time, years afterwards, the efforts of the shell have turned the disturbance into a shining, wonderful and precious PEARL. Unpleasancies, time and patient effort can cause the most beautiful products while on the outside around the hard protecting shells nothing seems to happen or change. The greatest treasures are hidden inside.