"I shine as I must and not as I please; and I cannot help you. I am bound to go my course round another sun, who is a thousand times larger and better than I. I cannot swerve a foot's breadth from my road; I cannot send down a single ray according to my own wishes."
"I don't understand it," said the hazel-bush.
"I don't understand it either," said the sun. "But I do it."
"And I understand that it is all up with a poor sheep's-scabious," said the sheep's-scabious and died then and there.
3
Then night came and all thought that it would be their last.
But, suddenly, the bell-flower raised her aching head and listened.
She thought she heard a sound as when a drop falls ... now came another ... it smacked down upon a leaf ... and another ... and another....
They all woke up, while the rain poured in torrents.