Olena the Princess of Cucumber Garden Grows a Tomato For a Change

Once upon a time, Olena the Princess of Cucumber Garden looked at her garden and decided it was boring.  "Too many cucumbers.  Not enough other vegetables.  In fact, there are no other vegetables!"  This made her feel kind of sad, so she decided to grow a tomato.

"But Olena, if you grow a tomato in the cucumber garden, it will no longer be just a cucumber garden," pleaded Lilia the Cucumber.  Olena realized that Lilia was right!

"Now I don't know what I should do!  I'm so scared right now..." said Olena.  Before growing a tomato, Olena decided she should become acquainted with one.  And so she went on vkontakte and searched for a tomato friend.  Once she found one who looked normal, she added her as a friend.

"Hello, Oksana the Tomato!  Thank you for adding me as a friend.  Tell me something about yourself.  Do you think I should grow a tomato in my cucumber garden?" wrote Olena.

Oksana the Tomato wrote back:  I'm happy to have you as a friend.  What can I say about myself?  I am red.  I can be turned into ketchup and tomato sauce.  And even though I am treated as a vegetable, I am actually considered a fruit."

Olena found this information to be amazing.  It occured to her that cucumbers couldn't be turned into ketchup and cucumber sauce probably would be as tasty as tomato sauce.  And cucumbers aren't some magical fruit that is treated as a vegetable.  
Olena said, "You know, maybe I shouldn't be the Princess of Cucumber Garden.  I should become Princess of Tomato Garden."  
And so she started planting tomatoes and stopped planting cucumbers.  The next spring, she looked at her tomato garden.  It was red.  It was beautiful.  But...something was missing.  
"There are too many tomatoes and not enough cucumbers.  In fact, there are no cucumbers at all!"  
So Olena decided to grow both tomatoes and cucumbers, even though it required her to become Princess of Tomatoes AND Cucumbers.

Several years later, Olena thought about her decision to grow tomatoes and cucumbers at the same time.  She realized it was the best decision ever.  And she probably learned some very important lessons.  But she can't remember what they were.  

THERE IS NOTHING MORE TO SAY