THE FIRST PARACHUTES

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 376, 9 June 1928, Page 29

THE FIRST PARACHUTES

When old Father Time made the flowers he was in a fix as to how to scatter their seeds all over the world. Some he made attractive to birds, who, though they ate the fruit, dropped the stone a long way off. To other seeds he gave hooks, so that they caught in the fur of animals and were carried on long journeys. Still others, like orchid seeds, he made as fine as dust, and the wind blew them away into nooks and crannies. At last he came to the groundsel, and said, “By my heard, I don’t know what to do for you, my son.”Then Groundsel, who was always an imp of mischief jumped up and plucked a hair from Father Time’s long white beard and said, cheekily: “By your heard I’ll manage very well, thank you!” From this white hair Groundsel made fluffy parachutes for all his seeds. So well did they fly that nowadays Groundsel has a record number of cousins and aunts and uncles living all over the world. This is how he earned the nickname, “Old Man” —because of the bits of Father Time’s beard still to be seen on his seeds.