THE LITTLE GIRL WHO STOLE A LILY.

Otago Witness, Issue 1355, 17 November 1877, Page 19

THE LITTLE GIRL WHO STOLE A LILY.

Nellie and Mabel were out in the awing under the maple trees, when Mable said : " Oh, Nellie, let's tell atories." This was substantially as much as saying, " You tell a new story, Nellie, and I will tell the same old story I always tell " — for Mabel knows only one story, and this is it : " Once there was a boy, and he went out in the barn, saw a great big bear, and a man came and shot him."

I have heard her tell this story several times, so I am quite sure that I , have given it correctly. Sometimes Nelly listens to it, and sometimes she kindly excuses Mabel from repeating it. This time she herself had a brand new story from Aunt Josie's lips, so on this occasion she kindly excused her sister.

" Well," she began, " a long time ago, Mabel, long before you were born, before either of us were born, there was a funny little old man lived all alone in a funny little old house in the woods; and all around his house he had the mostbeautiful garden, all kinds of roses, and lilies, and larkspurs, and pansies, and trumpetcreepers, and his flowers were always in bloom winter and summer, and they were so fragrant that they perfumed the air for miles and miles around ; his house was just covered with morning-glories and there were such flocks of bees and butterflies and humming-birds all about it, that with their bright colours they made it seem as though there was another garden floating in the air. , „ " " Well, one day.a little girl was going through the woods looking for wild flowers, and when she saw. the beautiful garden, she wanted some of the flowers very much, but she was afraid of the old man, and did not dare to ask him for any. So she stole in and stole along, and she would atop and smell one flower and gaze admiringly at another, till at last she came to a great large lily growing at the edge of a beautiful fountain.

"And oh ! it was so lovely, and the little girl wanted it so much, that before she stopped to think she picked it and ran away as fast as she could.

" But she could not get out of the garden. Instead of running away from the house, the path took her right up to it, and when she tried another one, that led her right up to the'house too. So she tried to run through the bushes, but they caught her dress on their branches, and the little pansies and the mignonette tangled themselves so about her feet, till at last the little girl was forced so stand still — right before a large sunflower. 1 " Put the lily back ! Put it back ! Put it back !' said the sunflower.

" ' I can't put it back,' said the child, crying ; ' I can't find thte place where it grew, and I can't get out of the garden.' " Then she noticed that, instead of one lily, she held two in her hand, and little buds of lilies were growing out all over the stem. She tried to throw them away, but they clung to her, and the little buds fastened themselves to her fingers, and. ears, and nose. " You may stay here with us,' said the sunflower, and the flowers all smiled and nodded. "Then her clothes were turned to waving green leaves, and all the bright buttons on her clothes changed to yellow lilies ; her toes grew long and fastened firmly in the ground, and in place of her head, with its yellow curls, was growing a large yellow lily.

" ' She shall be called Flower de Luce/ said Candytuft, looking up to her.

" ' Lucy for short,' said Snapdragon. " Then the little girl knew she would never be anything but a flower, and she hung down her head and felt very sad. But by-and-bye the humming birds came and kissed her, the butterflies fluttered about her and rested on her soft petals, the bees which she used - to fear so much came and nestled in her bosom, and sipped the honey from her golden cups. " And at night, after the great sun had gone down, the stara came out and twinkled above her, and the flowers talked and sang together under their peaceful light.

"So after all the little girl was happy as a lily, and seldom thought of the time when she was a naughty little girl,"

" H'm," said Mabel, " that was a good story. Do you suppose she ever turned back to a little girl again ?" " I don't know," said Nellie ; " there was some more to it, but Aunty didn't have time to tell it, because papa and George came, home and she had to get them some supper." " Let's ask her to tell the rest to-night." " Well," said Nellie. And just then the swing-board tipped over backward, and the girls went in one direction and the board flew in another, and I don't believe either one of them thought of little Lucy again.