Making pearls

There are two ways to make a pearl.

The first one happens when an oyster gets something irritating up inside its shell. And it rubs and rubs, and eventually it forms hard layers of coating, and out of what was painful and broken and scarring comes something valuable. Priceless.

The second way pearls are made is when people plant a "seed" inside an oyster's shell. A little chunk of mother-of-pearl. Clamshell. Not really pearl, but not really an offensive material, either. And it rubs and rubs. And forms its coating. And then it is harvested and sold.

Both are pearls. And the second is generally prettier than the first.

But I still like the first better.