She was Queen of the garden, this beautiful creature, and all the flowers
loved her. Each vied with the other in trying to please her. The tall
white lillies held their heads still higher as she passed by, the tiny
bud opened its curled petals further and further until it burst into a
glorious rose, the blue bells tinkled their sweetest music, and the shy,
gentle mignonette shed forth its loveliest perfume--every flower did all
in its power for her sake.
And the Queen loved all the flowers, too. She begged the sun to shine
down upon them, and she asked the morning dews to bathe their bright
faces, and the gentle rains to give them plenty to drink.
At last there came a day when the lillies hung their heads; blue bell
and heart ease fell from their stems, the poppies that had gleamed so
brightly in the sun light covered their faces and shone no more, and all
the garden seemed full of gloom and sadness.
The Insects had done it all. With their sharpest weapons they had
attacked the flowers, making them one by one yield to their violence.
[Illustration]
How this grieved the flower Queen, but at last she thought of the
Brownies, and she smiled for well she knew these clever little workers.
She found a trumpet flower that had escaped the cruel foe, and blew one
gentle blast. Quick as a wink the Brownies came running. Their faces
looked sad when they heard the trouble, but they promised to do all in
their power to help their gentle Queen, and bravely they went to work.
They took turns at the grindstone and sharpened their spears and swords
and axes until they glistened in the moonlight, and the insects might
well have trembled had they seen them.
[Illustration]
In the morning when the sun peeped out to waken the flowers, the insects
once more started on their raid, but they were not prepared for what
followed. Curled up underneath flowers and bushes hid the Brownies.
Out they rushed and war raged fiercely, but the Brownies came off the
victors, and the bees and the beetles, the hornets, ants and caterpillars
lay dead upon the ground.
[Illustration]