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."