Laura Rountree Smith

“ The Pretty Elf danced to and fro,
“Their perfume is a delight to me,
To every Butterfly and Bee;
That plants are useful is a surprise;
I thought they were to delight the eyes.”
Healthy Bunny said,
“Old Mother Bun, I love flowers, too;
I will help weed the garden for you.”
Pretty Bunny said,
“Old Mother Bun, I’m a faithful daughter;
I will help the flowers to water.”
They invited the Peddler to stay with them and he almost consented. He said at any rate he would give them the book about Flowers.
When the Bunnies were falling asleep, they heard a gentle “pitter, patter.” ”

“ Old Mother Bun had been planting a wild-flower garden for years and years. The Bunnies had often gone to the woods and dug up a single plant of its kind for they did not want to rob even the woods of beauty, and so they had many wild flowers growing in their home garden, and they had also a lovely bed of ferns. ”

“ Healthy Bunny and Pretty Bunny went out and gathered Golden-rod and [Pg 95] brought it home, and set it in great jars by the front door. The Golden-rod said,
“By the road I grow, but this I know,
I sing it over, hour by hour,
I sing it over hour by hour
I am your chosen National Flower.”
Even as the Golden-rod talked, the song-finch and song sparrow came to see if there were any seeds ready for them.
Happy-Go-Lucky Bunny came in sight with a surprise for Old Mother Bun. He had a basket full of the little plant she wanted for her wild flower garden called, “Butter-And-Eggs.” ”

“ The flower lost its petals, still no Fairy was seen.
The ugly Spider died but the Fairy was alive and well hidden in the ball the flower had made. The ball opened soon and out came a pure, white tassel the Fairy had been spinning!
We love to think of the industrious Fairy now when we wear a garment made of cotton.
The voice of the little Elf sank lower and lower and soon the little Bunnies were fast asleep. He sang,
“I wonder how much they’ve heard, I said,
I must go back to the Tulip Bed;
There is fun for me and every one,
In the garden planted by Old Mother Bun. ”

“ The Bunnies thought for some time, but it was Little Elf Laughter who suggested,
“Drink Motherwort and you’ll live long,
So goes the Legend and the Song.”
Old Mother Bun said, “In far-away Japan, a stream runs down a hill where motherwort grows, and the story goes that people who drink water from that stream are always young. The Japanese hold a festival called ‘The Motherwort Festival,’ and they have a drink made from this plant.”
By and by the rain was over and the Bunnies went off to look for the rainbow end, for they wanted to find the pot of gold. ”

“ They planted some Bulbs in water and watched the long white roots grow downward day after day, while the green stalks shot upward.
That night Old Mother Bun was sitting up late when she heard a voice call,
“Old Mother Bun, Old Mother Bun,
Look at your Scarecrow, just for fun.”
She looked out and saw the Scarecrow dancing to and fro and a Wee Elf peeping out of each pocket.
She put on a shawl and went into the garden.
Old Mother Bun went to her Pansy bed,
“We grow the more you pick us,” they said.
Old Mother Bun picked a basket full of Pansies to send to a sick neighbor the next day. ”

“ I always vanish with the sun.”
Said Old Father Bun, talking half to himself,
“Best of all I like the fruits,
But to-day let’s study roots.”
He said the root is the simplest part of the plant and he said a plant has a primary root which it sends down into the soil, and some plants also have secondary roots which spring from the stem.
Some time before Old Mother Bun had planted a sweet pea. She had stretched a piece of netting over a glass with water in it, and had placed the pea on top of the netting.
The Bunnies saw the roots growing downward. ”

“ Old Father Bun remarked,
“Right down here, in this Fairy Bower,
Let us learn the parts of a flower.”
Just then a beautiful Butterfly sailed by, and attracted by the color in the Tulip Bed, sailed down, so, as a Butterfly and Humming Bird came to the garden that day, Old Mother Bun said, “What fine visitors.”
Old Father Bun said,
“I will try to teach you, if in my power,
To know and name the parts of a flower;
Calyx, corolla, pistils, and stamens,
Over and over let us name them.”
Old Mother Bun said,
“The Calyx is really the flower-cup ”

“ The snow will soon melt and make them grow.”
Sure enough, the light fall of snow did not hurt the flowers at all, and soon the sun shone and Shadow Bunny called,
“Come out and play, come out and play;
Come and enjoy this fine spring day.”
When evening came the Bunnies were so tired they went happily off to bed. Old Mother Bun told them a story about her Tulip Bed. She said she once heard a Folk-Tale about Old Mother Delight who went out one night with a lighted lantern in her garden, and discovered that the Fairies had hidden their babies in her Tulips for the night. ”

“ Mother Bun said to her son and daughter,
“Roots will grow in earth or water.”
[Pg 50]
The Bunnies decided to plant some seeds in this way and watch the roots grow.
Mother Bun said, “See the early shoots;
I also like to watch aerial roots.”
Pretty Bunny said, “What are aerial roots?”
Healthy Bunny said,
“It seems to me now, I do declare,
Aerial means something about the air.”
They remembered that they had learned about Swallows being called “aerial birds,” because they spent so much time in the air, and so they asked eagerly where they could find some aerial roots. ”

“ He said while resting in the meadow the Flax told him this story: “The Earth Goddess Hilda comes to visit us. She comes to the earth to see how much Flax is planted, and returns by winter to see if there is enough Flax for spring and if the spinning wheels are all busy. She rewards the busy people and punishes the lazy ones.”
After supper the Bunnies gathered round the bunch of Dandelions Old Father Bun had gathered, and one Dandelion, larger than the rest, began to talk. ”

“ The little Bunnies noticed that the leaves did not all look alike. They were different in size, form and color.
The Pretty Elf sang,
“Each leaf a fairy is, in pretty gown;
Each leaf a fairy is, come to town.
So close your eyes, if you are wise,
And I will give you a surprise.”
The Bunnies did as they were told, and when they opened their eyes each of the leaves they had gathered held a fairy.
Maple and oak leaves, yellow and brown,
Gay little play leaves, dancing down, down.
One leaf with a smooth edge said,
“To talk in verse is very fine ”

“ There was another spinner who lived near the Fairy. He was an enormous spider with stripes upon his back. He did not like to think the Fairy was a more wonderful spinner than he, so he decided to kill her. She was frightened [Pg 57] and began to run, carefully hiding her spindle, and the spider ran after her. ”

“ Who lives all by himself.”
So saying, he floated away on a sunbeam and the Bunnies cried,
“Hurrah for the Elf, we have learned, you see,
Each Flower belongs to a Family.”
[Pg 46]
CHAPTER IV.
ROOTS OF A PLANT—THE LEGEND OF COTTON.
“Every plant, as I believe,
Is composed of Root, Stem, and Leaves;
When the planting time is done,
Let’s study them with Old Mother Bun.”
Every one was hurrying next day to finish the seed planting. There were Morning Glory seeds and Nasturtium seeds to plant by the porch. There were Pansy seeds to plant in the little round bed by the front door. ”

“ Rake and hoe, rake and hoe,
Help the flowers grow.”
Soon everything seemed ready and they started off to the Flower Show, when Old Mother Bun turned her ankle and feared she could not walk another step, so they set up a wail,
“Another step she cannot go,
Alas! alas! for the Flower Show.”
[Pg 98]
Old Father Bun got a wheelbarrow and they took turns wheeling her.
When they came to the Flower Show they saw rooms and rooms filled with Cactus and many curious flowers.
The Pitcher Plant had each little pitcher partly filled with water. It said,
“I tell you I like boggy ground ”

“ Though they stand still and cannot walk,
In Fairyland I heard them talk.”
The little Crocus in the vase began to nod, and nod, and open its petals, and, to the surprise of all, began to talk.
[Pg 12]
[Pg 13]
The Crocus said, “Please do not doubt me;
There are many legends told about me.”
Then the Crocus began to tell the story or legend she liked the best. She said, “I am the little child, Krokus, who was killed by an accident when Mercury threw a quoit one day, and I was changed at once into a flower.” (Crocus continued)
“Here is a story to make you laugh ”

“ Then the Nymph pronounced this magic upon him, ‘He can eat and eat but will always be hungry.’” As she finished her story the Nymph disappeared in the tree.
The Bunnies tapped on many tree-trunks to see if another Nymph would come out. They heard a voice call,
“Ha, ha, ha, let me out,
All day long I sing and shout.”
[Pg 74]
The voice came from another oak tree, and looking below it, the Bunnies found [Pg 75] a key and unlocked a door in the tree and out came a Dryad with another story to tell. ”

“ She peeped inside and said, “I will tell no one yet what I have found; I will tell no one yet what is inside.”
Healthy Bunny and Pretty Bunny came home tired.
Old Father Bun said,
“Did you find the pot of gold? [Pg 69]
Though you are tired, please do not scold.” ”

“ In the Garden of Old Mother Bun.”
The Play then began.
Pansies. “See, we are the Pansies with happy faces and kind thoughts. We do not fear Jack Frost. We do not fear a little snow. We will dance for you and sing for you.” ”

“ He said to himself,
“I have been working hours and hours
To try to make some paper flowers.”
He took a Tulip petal, and traced around it on card board and used this as a pattern. He cut many petals from red crepe paper for his Tulips. He placed wire between two paper petals and glued them together, then he wired all the petals together and put a little yellow round on the end of his stem, which he wrapped with green paper. ”

“ He pointed to Healthy Bunny who cried, “Violet,” and changed places with him, calling for a flower whose name began with another letter, as “D” for “Dandelion” or “Daisy.” The game went on merrily. Every time after a flower was named the Bunnies skipped round the circle singing, to the tune of “Twinkle Little Star,”
[Pg 28]
“Flower Games we love to play,
In the spring when we are gay ”