Part 2

"Certainly," said the teacher. "Here are two little pots. We will plant them both, and set them on the broad window-sill. You can water them each day, and we shall see how well they will grow."

"This is dreadful," said the Pansy to the Violet, as they stood side by side on the window-sill. "How shall we bear the dust and heat of this room after the fresh sweet air of the garden? I am sure I shall die."

"Oh! it is not quite so bad as that," said the Violet. "It certainly is not so pleasant as the garden, but when the window is opened one feels better."

"My leaves are covered with dust already. How is one to breathe?" grumbled the Pansy.

"So are mine," said the Violet; "but never mind. Don't think about it. Let us turn our attention to making our flowers."

"You don't mean to say that you think of making a flower here!" cried the Pansy. "What would be the use? You would never be able to make good seed, for no bee or butterfly will ever find its way in amongst these close buildings."

"One never knows what may happen," said the Violet; "and it is better to be busy than to mope."

She set to work to make her flower, and took just as much care over it as if she had been out in the garden. She covered the slender stalk and pointed sepals with soft white fur, and filled her seed-box with tiny green balls. Then she drew honey guides down her blue silk petals, made her pollen, and filled her quaint honey-bag with honey, just as if she expected a bee or a butterfly at any moment.

"You are wasting your time," said the Pansy, who was doing nothing.

"I am busy, and that keeps me happy," said the Violet. She scented her petals and set their brushes on them.

"My violet has a flower on it!" cried the little girl. "Oh, how sweet it smells!" She watched the sun shining through the blue petals as the flower hung over the pot, and her eyes shone with pleasure. All through the day she turned to look at the Violet as soon as each little task was done, and at night she told her mother what had happened.

"I shall not mind if no bee finds me now," said the Violet. "My flower has given so much happiness that I am content, even if I never make good seed." The Pansy had nothing to say.

A few days later a wonderful thing happened. A bee came buzzing in at the open window and flew straight to the Violet.

"Sweet Violet," he said, "I have found you at last. Your scent came out to me as I was passing, and I have sought for you in all the windows. Have you any honey for me?"

"Plenty!" cried the Violet joyfully. "Dip deep and take all I have, dear friend."

"Thank you," said the Bee. "I will give you some pollen from your cousins in return. They are blooming in a window-box in the next street."

He brushed tiny pollen grains off his head and gave them to the Violet.

"Thank you," said the Violet. "Please take some of mine back to my cousins." She laid some of hers on his head, and he flew off.

Filled with joy, the Violet set to work to make her little green balls into seeds.

"Well, if I had thought a bee really would come, I would have made a flower too," said the Pansy.

THE CHERRY CHILDREN

It was early spring. The Cherry Children woke up and called: "Mother, may we go to play now?"

"Wait till I have made your fairy boats," said the Cherry Mother.

They lay still and waited, and she made their fairy boats, with white silk sails. Then they sprang up and played in the sunshine, sailing to and fro on the spring winds, and throwing tiny scent-balls out into the air. The bees and butterflies and silver moths came to visit them; everybody laughed and chattered and was happy.

After a while the Cherry Children grew tired.

"Mother," they called, "we have played enough. We should like to rest now."

"Creep into your little green cradles," said the Cherry Mother. "Rest there and grow while I make your cradles big."

They crept into their cradles. The mother gently loosened the white sails and dropped them on the ground, where they lay like scented snowflakes. Then she made the cradles bigger as the children grew. She lined the wooden walls with softest satin, and covered them with a thick green covering. The winds blew and rocked the little cradles to and fro; from the neighbouring trees the birds sang soft lullabies, and watched and waited.

The green cradle coverings turned deep red. Once more the Cherry Children woke up.

"Mother, we wish to grow," they called.

"The birds are coming. They will carry you away to grow," replied the mother.

The birds came in flocks and carried the Cherry Children away in their beaks. They pecked off the sweet red coverings and ate them, dropping the hard wooden cradles on the ground. There the autumn leaves covered them when they fell, and the rain showers washed them farther and farther into the soft earth.

One day the wooden cradles split open at the sides, and out peeped the Cherry Children. They grew down and up, and soon wherever a cradle had fallen there stood a young cherry tree, slender and green.

THE DAISY FAIRY

She was a dainty little fairy, and all her work was daintily done. The river bank was so gay with her sweet, pink-tipped daisies that everybody admired it. The bees loved the spot.

One day she noticed that a hill standing near had no flowers on it.

"I must make that beautiful too," she thought, so she flew across and planted a daisy-seed near the top.

"That is absurd," said the Hill. "How can a thing so tiny be of any use to me?"

"Wait and see," said the Fairy. To the seed she said: "Swell and sprout and grow up and down."

The seed swelled and sprouted, and grew up and down; when the Fairy came again it had a root and a stem.

"Now make your leaves," she said; when next she came the leaves were made. "Very well done," she said. "Now I will help you to make your flowers, for they are most important."

So she and the daisy worked together at the flowers. First they made a stem, slender and green, with a knob at the top. On this they seated the flowers like tiny golden bells round and round in rings. In each flower they put a store of honey for the bees and of pollen for the neighbour flowers. Then they set a row of fine large white petals round the edge to catch the eyes of the bees, and the Fairy tipped them with pink. Last they made the green leaf coverings for the outside to keep away unfriendly insects.

"Fold yourselves over the flowers till the morning," the Fairy said to these leaves, "and then open widely to let the bees come in."

From her river bank the next morning the Fairy saw the daisy shining in the sunlight. She pointed it out to a bee. "There is a fresh daisy full of honey-cups," she said. The bee flew to it at once. He stood in the middle of the flower, unrolled his long tongue, and supped up the sweet honey from flower after flower, turning himself round and round till he had dipped into every one.

"Thank you, tiny daisies," said the Bee. "That was delicious honey."

"Thank you, Mr. Bee," said the Daisies, "for you have mixed our pollen, and now our seed will grow well."

The Daisy Fairy came again and said: "Drop your petals, close your green leaf coverings, and make your seed."

She came again when the seeds were ripe.

"Now scatter your seeds," she said to the daisy, and to each little seed as it fell she said as before: "Swell and sprout and grow up and down." The seeds did as they were told, and soon there was a ring of strong young daisy plants growing round the first one. Again the flowers were made and the seeds scattered; in a short time the hill was starred with pink and white.

"It is wonderful!" said the Hill. "I should never have believed it if I had not seen it."

"It was a tiny seed," said the Fairy, "but it has made you beautiful."

MY GARDEN

I have a garden of sweetest flowers, Beside the orchard wall. The sun sends sunbeams, the clouds send showers, To make them gay and tall.

Marigolds, wallflowers, cowslips, pinks, Pansies, and mignonette! Forget-me-not blue its star-eye winks; Roses their buds have set.

But dearest of all, in their border low, Bloom the daisies so wee. Pink and crimson, or as white as the snow; Daisies, daisies for me!

BED-TIME

Ticketty Tacketty, tick, tack, tock! Now then, young man, just look at that clock! Off with your shoe, and off with your sock. Ticketty Tacketty, tick, tack, tock.

PANSY

Pansy so velvety, pansy so wide, Pansy with heart of gold, How I wish I could stay outside Till I saw your petals unfold!

When do you open them, pansy so blue? I watch, but never see. One day there's a bud; the next, there's--you! You are _such_ a puzzle to me.

Do you open them softly in the dark, While stars watch overhead? Or fling them wide with the morning lark, Before I am out of my bed?

MAY FAIRIES

"Come out and dance," called the Snow Fairies to the May Fairies.

The May Fairies peeped out of their homes in the hawthorn trees and shivered.

"No, thank you," they said. "It is too cold out there. Besides, we are busy making our buds."

They made tiny red-tipped buds and set them on the branches of the trees, two at the foot of each thorn. Then they crept down into their warm homes again to wait for the spring.

With the spring came the merry Sunbeams.

"Come out and dance," they called.

"Oh! are you there?" called back the May Fairies. "Then we must open our buds, so we have no time to dance."

They worked hard, blowing out the buds with their dainty breath, till at last the leaves opened and the trees were dressed in fluttering green.

The Spring Fairies came tripping past, waving tasselled catkins in their hands.

"Come out and dance," they called.

"We have no time. We must make our flower-buds," replied the May Fairies.

They made their wee round flower-buds and set them on the trees, and blew into them and puffed them out till they looked like tiny snowballs. Harder and harder they blew, until at last the flowers flew open. Then the trees looked as if showers of white stars had fallen on them from the sky in snow-time. How lovely they were! The little flies came from far and near to feast, buzzing out their thankfulness to the fairies for the sweet honey.

The Summer Fairies came with roses and forget-me-nots. "Come out and dance," they called.

"We have no time," called back the May Fairies. "We have to make our berries."

They gently loosened the white petals of the flowers and set them floating on the wind. Then they made the little green seed-balls into berries, blowing them big and round so that the seeds should have room to grow, and polishing the outsides till they turned red and glowed like garnets in the sunshine. What a feast the birds had!

When the fairies had finished it was autumn.

"Come and dance," called the Leaf Fairies as they fluttered past in their brown and crimson robes.

"We are coming," called back the May Fairies, "for now our work is done." They flew down from their tree-homes, free at last to dance through all the golden autumn days.

THE DRAGON

He was not a pretty fellow by any means when he lived in the water. Indeed, the mosquito babies thought him the ugliest and fiercest-looking creature in the world; but as he ate them up whenever he could catch them their bad opinion of him was hardly to be wondered at.

They all lived in the pool. The mosquito babies felt that it would have been a happy life if it had not been for the Dragon. He would lie so still and grey in the water that they would think he was only a stick, but as they came near his horrid mask would open, and out would shoot his cruel jaws; they would be swallowed before they had time to think any more. What an appetite he had! It seemed as if all the mosquito babies in the pool would never satisfy him.

But one day his appetite failed. "I feel very queer," he said. "I will go up into the air." He crawled slowly up a reed and hung on to it above the water, and there he seemed to sleep for days and weeks, neither moving nor eating. The mosquito babies could have a good time now--if there were any left.

As he hung there his skin grew strangely hard and dry and shrunken, as if it were becoming a lifeless case. And that is just what was happening. Inside it the Dragon was growing into something quite different from what he had been.

One morning he stirred. "How close and dark it is in here!" he said. "I must go out."

He put his head against the end of the case and pushed hard. Crack! went the dry skin, and out popped his head. "This is tiring work," he said; he stopped to rest and to grow used to the strong light.

Soon he began again. He pushed and pushed till the opening grew wide enough for his body; then he crawled slowly out and stood on top of his old skin. He felt strange and damp and chilly at first, but the sun was delightfully warm, so he stood still, to be dried and comforted.

"How changed I am!" he thought. Indeed, the change was wonderful. The flabby grey body and the ugly mask and claws were gone. In their places he had a long, slender body barred with black and gold, a shapely head with two big bronze-green eyes and delicate feelers, and six supple finely-jointed legs.

And he had wings! Yes, four beautiful, beautiful wings. He raised them one by one to dry them. He quivered with joy as he looked at their delicate lacework and lovely colours. "How fine they are! And how glorious it will be to fly!" he thought.

Soon he was dried and warmed. He spread his glittering wings, rose into the air, and sailed away to play with his cousins and catch moths--a Pool Dragon no longer, but a shining Dragon-fly.

GOLD BROOM AND WHITE BROOM

On a piece of waste land lived the Broom cousins.

"My leaves are bigger than yours," said Gold Broom to White Broom.

"Size is not everything," said White Broom to Gold Broom; they were always sparring at one another.

Buds came on the branches. Then the flowers sprang out and danced in the sunshine.

"How pale and small your children are!" said Gold Broom to White Broom. "Mine are golden and well grown. See how strong and happy they look."

"Yellow is such a common colour," said White Broom to Gold Broom. "White is much more refined. My children are not overgrown, but they are dainty. And how sweetly they are scented!"

The bees and moths came flying amongst the flowers, unrolling their long tongues and sipping up the honey.

"Are not my children the best?" asked Gold Broom of the bees.

"Are not mine?" asked White Broom.

"That is hard to decide," said the Bees. "We love them all alike. Gold Broom's children have more honey, but White Broom's honey is sweeter to the taste." They flew away to their hive, leaving the mothers to argue it out.

The children took no part in the discussion. They were too happy to quarrel. They played and danced every day, till at last they grew tired. Then they dropped their bright wings and shut themselves away in their little green houses.

Here they sat in rows on round stools and grew fat. The walls were lined with wool, so that the cold could not come in; every day Gold Broom and White Broom sent food up the stalk-passages to them. Thus they were comfortable and happy.

But outside the mothers were still quarrelling.

"My houses are bigger than yours," said Gold Broom.

"As I told you before, size is nothing," replied White Broom. "Anyway, mine are much finer in shape."

The houses turned brown and black, and the children turned brown and black. They were big and strong now, and they wished to come out. One by one Gold Broom and White Broom twisted the walls of the houses. Out sprang the children into the world. Pop! pop! pop! Such a splitting and twisting of little house-walls curling back upon each other! Such a jumping of brown and black children far out over the ground!

"Mine jump the farthest," said Gold Broom.

"Mine jump much more gracefully," said White Broom.

The children lay on the ground. The sun shone on them, the rain softened their hard coats. They swelled and burst, tiny shoots came out, and in a little while the ground was green with hundreds of young broom plants.

"Mine are growing the best," said Gold Broom.

"What nonsense you talk!" said White Broom.

KITTY CRAYFISH'S HOUSEKEEPING

Kitty Crayfish passed the first part of her life clinging under her mother's bent tail. But one day her mother said: "You are old enough to take care of yourself now, little Kitty. Make a house in the bank, and always creep into it while you change your shell."

She swam to the bank at the side of the stream, gently placed Kitty on a flat stone, and left her there. Kitty was not at all afraid. She was very tiny, but she was exactly like her mother in shape, and had the same strong claws and jaws. She set to work at once to burrow in the bank, and soon had a neat little house made. Tired with her hard work, she threw herself down and slept.

When she woke she felt hungry; so she went out to look for food. She walked forwards, creeping on eight of her queer jointed legs; but when she reached the water she turned round and swam backwards, using the blades of her wide tail as front paddles, and bringing all her swimming legs and swimmerets into play.

She made a good meal, for there were plenty of worms and grubs and tiny fish on the mud-floor of the stream, and her nippers were long and strong. While she was feeding, Old Man Crayfish came striding along the mud-floor. He would have eaten her for dinner if he could have caught her, for he was very fond of tender babies now and again. But she saw him coming, and was off before he could reach her. She swam back to her new home, well pleased with herself. Her housekeeping had begun well; she felt that she was able to take care of herself.

A few days later her mother peeped in at the door.

"You seem very comfortable," she said; "but are you not coming out to-day?"

"No," said Kitty; "I don't feel very well. My shell feels far too tight."

"Ah! it is going to split," said her mother. "I can see it looks very thin. You are quite right to stay in. Don't show yourself till the new one is hard, or somebody will devour you."

Kitty stayed in her house, lying still and feeling very queer. By and by her shell split across the back, just beneath her shield. She pushed her head out through the slit. Then she slowly drew the rest of her body out, till she stood quite outside her old shell, shivering and cold, and a little afraid. Her old covering lay there, legs and feelers and shield and tail; even the skins of the eyes on their little stalks. She herself stood in a new shell, exactly the same in shape, but quite soft.

Afterwards Kitty became accustomed to these wonderful changes; for she grew so fast that she had to have a new shell eight times during the first year of her life, five times the second year, and once every year after that till she stopped growing. Each time she had to hide in her house till the new shell became hard enough to protect her; then she swam out again, hungrier and stronger than ever.

She has been living in her burrowed house for years, making it bigger as she herself grew bigger. She is there to-day. She is a mother-crayfish now, and carries her little ones under her tail until they, too, are big enough to keep house for themselves.

THE GARDEN PARTY

It was a lovely summer morning. Everybody in the garden was busy, for in the afternoon the flowers were to give their great garden-party. The bees and flies and moths and butterflies and little beetles were all invited.

In the pansy plot the pansies put on their best velvet frocks, and brushed their little green shoes. The lilies dressed themselves in white, and hung bags of golden dust around their necks. The sweet-peas and roses and larkspurs were gay in many-coloured silks. They sprinkled scent over themselves, and filled their honey-jars full of sweetest honey for their visitors. All was cheerfulness and hustle.

At last the afternoon came and the visitors arrived. What excitement! Such a buzzing and chattering! Such a bowing and smiling and polite shaking of wings and feelers! The bees and moths and flies and butterflies and little beetles flew about, singing with pleasure and drinking the delicious honey provided for them. They told the smiling flowers how lovely they were, and the flowers in return dusted them with their golden dust. As the visitors flew from flower to flower they carried the golden pollen dust with them, leaving a little here and there; thus the flowers were able to exchange.

At last the party was over. The guests flew home well pleased, and the garden was quiet again. Night came; the flowers dropped their heads, and many slept.

But in the darkness some were awake, and they began to whisper to their neighbours: "Did you exchange?" The answers came: "Yes." "We did too." "So did we." "I shall not open to-morrow," said a pansy. "My exchanges are all made, and my seeds are beginning to grow. The bees found my honey easily, because my honey-guides helped them; so they carried all my pollen away, and brought plenty from my cousins."

"That is so with us," said many of the others. But some said: "We must keep open a little longer. Our seeds are not all growing." So they opened again next day, and gave little parties of their own, till all the exchanges were made and all the seeds were growing.

The sunny days passed, and now where the flowers had been were little seed-cases; some round, some pointed, some oval, but all filled to the brim with healthy young seeds. The sun shone on them, and they grew and grew till the cases would hold them no longer. Then there was a splitting and a bursting and a popping everywhere, and out sprang the little seeds, to begin a new life for themselves. As the young seedlings sprang up on every side, the older plants looked at them with pride. "We have very fine children," they said. "Next year we must give another garden-party."

BLUEBELLS

Bluebells, bluebells, did the fairies make you? Do they fly to you at night and ring you and shake you, And dance on your slender stalks? Do they stroke you and love you, And whisper above you, And take you for fairy walks?

COWSLIPS

O sweet the smell of the cowslip bell! Was ever flower so sweet? I picked it where its soft leaves fell Around its dainty feet.

How slender is its golden throat! How soft its scented face! It hangs from out its green pale coat With pretty drooping grace.

OF ROYAL BLOOD

She was certainly a very grand princess. From the first the nurse-bees fed her with rich golden honey instead of the bee-bread that the common children received. She had a royal bedroom, too, very much larger than the others. At meal-times the nurses were always waiting with her honey; all day long they guarded and watched her, and fanned fresh air with their wings into her bedroom. So she grew big and strong.

One day she said: "I have finished growing, and shall put on my royal robes. Close the door so that nobody can see me while I dress."

The nurses closed the door, and she put on her royal robes. When she was ready they rushed to open the door again. She came out beautiful and shining.

"Now I am going to be Queen," she said to the bee-people who had gathered round her.

"Yes," they said. "The old Queen has gone to a new home and left this one to you. Hail! Queen of the hive!" They bowed before her with great respect, and walked backwards when they left the room.

Guards and honey-bearers were appointed for her, and maids of honour to keep her robes in order. So the new Queen entered into her royal state.

"I am going to be married," she said. She flew out of the hive and rose high in the air, and there she was married to Prince Drone.