“O, hasten, Blackberry,” she said. “Hasten, Spindle, and Holly and Misletoe, for before the coldest hour that precedes the dawn has passed over the earth your little sisters must all be back in their little warm beds.”
HOLLY
Then forward came the four linked hand in hand and curtsied. Then the Holly kissed the Mistletoe, and the Blackberry and the Spindleberry raised their banners on high, while all the flowers marched through hand in hand.
MISTLETOE
They marched up to the tree of the Lady Elder, and Rusialka knocked once, twice, thrice, with her crystal wand.
The Lady Elder came out of her tree and smiled upon the flowers.
“Good night, my children,” she said. “Good night, and farewell until the Spring.”
And then the flowers frolicked and danced merrily; and at the dawn of day they drooped their heads and fell asleep, and the fairies brought them back to their little warm beds and covered them up with their sparkling white coverlets.