EMBLEM OF NEW ZEALAND
(By EAR B All A lIYLAND) In the dim and distant days when Ne,w Zealand was as yet uninhabited by the white men, there grew many great forests. In the depths of one of these stood a golden kowhai, a blood-red rata and the beginnings of a kauri tree. They formed a triangle, and in the centre grew a. tiny silver fern, which seemed entirely oblivious of all its surroundings except the little patch of ground that its diminutive leaves covered.
This forest was never bored, because it could listen to the quarrels of the kowhai and the rata, which arguea as to which was really the king of the forest and the emblem of New Zealand.
Years passed, and although the kowhai, the rata, the kauri tree (now half-grown) and the little silver fern were still there, their surroundings were changed. No longer was it a dense forest. Instead, there were farms and homesteads being built all round the triangle of trees and a few other trees that were still left standing.
Every day the curse of the shining axe came closer, closer, till at last men came to cut down the few remaining trees. While one of the white men, who carried with him the glistening blade, was advancing to the mournful trees, he nearly trod on tlie little silver fern but, stopping, he said: "I must not tread on you, little Silver Fern, for you are the emblem of New Zealand."
When the kowhai and the rata heard this thev fainted dead away, and did not notice when, with the kauri tree, they were cut down and ca:Hjd away, leaving the little silver fern in solitary but prouu possession.
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Bibliographic details
Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 203, 27 August 1943, Page 5
Word Count
286EMBLEM OF NEW ZEALAND Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 203, 27 August 1943, Page 5
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