But, just as she was about to fly away, the starling came:
“I say, I say, what a dear little dragon-fly!” he said. “Just a nice little mouthful for my youngsters!”
And with a whizz! he snapped up the dragon-fly in his beak and flew away with her.
“There they go!” cried the water-lily, shaking her leaves with anger. “Those animals, those animals! What extraordinary creatures they are. I must say I prefer my own quiet life. I hurt nobody and no one injures me. I am so hap....”
She got no further, for a boat glided close past her.
“Oh, what a lovely water-lily!” said Ellen, who sat in the stern. “I must have it.”
She bent over the side and tore the flower away. When she got home, she put it into a glass of water, where it stood for three days with a lot of other flowers.
“I don’t know what to think,” said the water-lily, on the fourth day. “I have not fared a whit better than that poor dragon-fly.”
“The flowers are faded,” said Ellen and threw them out of the window.
And the water-lily lay with her fair white petals on the dirty ground.