WHY THE POPPY BLUSHED

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLV, Issue 21304, 25 March 1939, Page 3 (Supplement)

WHY THE POPPY BLUSHED

“Oh dear,” said the little white poppy growing at the edge of the cornfield, “I do wish I knew what was on the other side of the hedge.” She swayed her head this way and that, trying to find a hole through which she could peep, but it was no use, she could not see a thing. “I suppose I shall have to grow a little more,” she said to herself. “What do you want to grow for?” asked an elf who was sitting on a tuft of grass at her feet. “I was just wishing I could see what is on the other side of the hedge,” she said.

“Good gracious, you can’t do that.” “Why can’t I?” asked the poppy. “Because you can’t child,” answered the elf. “It isn’t your place to know what goes on on the other side of the hedge. Remember, you were born in the cornfield, so there you must stay.” “But I don’t want to go to the other side, I only want to see it.” “Same thing, same thing,” said the elf. “The other side of that hedge is no concern of yours.” “I wonder what is on the other side,” thought the poppy when the elf had gone, “it must be something very wonderful.” The more she thought about it, the more she wanted to see through the hedge, so the next day she asked the honeysuckle fairy, who lived in the hedge, if she could tell what was on the other side. The fairy looked dreadfully shocked and said: “That’s no concern of yours, child,” but the poppy would not be put off, so she asked the hedge-sparrow, and the bee who visited the honeysuckle fairy every day, and the caterpillar who lived

in the blackberry bush, but they all I said the same thing.

' “Oh, well,” she thought, “perhaps , | when I’m quite grown up I’ll be able | to peep through the hole in the rose j bush and see for myself.” . : So she waited until she had grown . . nearly as tall as the cornstalks, and | three times as tall as the dandelions, . and then she was big enough to see through the hole. “Now I shall see what is on the other side,” she said as she swayed her head forward. At first she could only see a meadow and lots of lovely flowers, but as she looked around she suddenly saw a beautiful rose, and inside the rose was tire fairy queen fast asleep. The poor poppy felt dreadful, for, of course, as everyone knows, nobody must look at the fairy queen when she is asleep. “Oh dear,” she thought, “I wish I hadn’t looked,” and she felt so ashamed that she blushed all over, and became a lovely red. In fact, she felt so foolish that she never did stop blushing again, and when other field poppies heard about it they blushed red too, and they have all been red ever since.