When a grain of sand finds its way inside the shell of an oyster, the tiny intruder, despite being microscopic becomes a terrible source of irritation and pain for the inside of the soft liquid oyster. When it cannot rid itself of the offending sand particle, the oyster seeks to reduce that irritation by coating the little particle with layer upon layer of malleable iridescent mother-of-pearl material from its very own shell. Overtime the pearl has transformed a terrible hardship into something of great beauty.