And there it lay until a tiny
sunbeam pierced the damp mould, and finding
the little vine carried it back to its sunny fields.
And ever since then the strawberry plant has
lived and thrived in the fields and woods. But
the Fruit-Elves, fearing lest the Evil One should
one day steal the vine again, watch day and
night over their favorite. And when the
strawberries ripen they give the juicy, fragrant fruit
to the Iroquois children as they gather the spring
flowers in the woods.
THE CANYON FLOWERS
BY RALPH CONNOR (ADAPTED)
At first there were no canyons, but only the broad,
open prairie. One day the Master of the Prairie,
walking out over his great lawns, where were only
grasses, asked the Prairie: ``Where are your
flowers?''
And the Prairie said: ``Master, I have no seeds.''
Then he spoke to the birds, and they carried
seeds of every kind of flower and strewed them
far and wide, and soon the Prairie bloomed with
crocuses and roses and buffalo beans and the
yellow crowfoot and the wild sunflowers and the
red lilies, all the summer long.
Then the Master came and was well pleased;
but he missed the flowers he loved best of all,
and he said to the Prairie: ``Where are the
clematis and the columbine, the sweet violets
and wind-flowers, and all the ferns and flowering
shrubs?''
And again the Prairie answered: ``Master, I
have no seeds.
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