There is a charming story about the almond tree in Grecian history. A
young Greek, called Demophoon, was on his way home from the siege of
Troy; but as the ship passed the shores of Thrace, there was a great
storm, and he was shipwrecked.
Now the King of Thrace had a beautiful daughter, named Phyllis, who
received Demophoon with kindness, and he fell in love with her, and she
promised to marry him.
Before the wedding Demophoon said he must go to his country to get his
palace ready for his beautiful princess.
Away he went in another ship, and the princess was quite happy at first
as Demophoon had promised to return very soon, but time went on and he
never came. The princess watched and waited, but in vain; and, in course
of time, as Demophoon never returned, she became very thin and ill, and,
at last, she died.
Then because she had been so faithful and constant to the unworthy
Demophoon the fairies changed her into a beautiful almond tree.
[Illustration: Vibrant color illustration of a young Greek musician with
a lyre and a flying cloak running toward a woman whose body is morphing
into a leafy laurel bush.]
[Illustration: Story header titled 'The Laurel' with a large decorative
initial 'T' and a illustration of laurel leaf clusters.]