"This is the most beautiful," said Fairy Tenderheart.
"You have chosen well," said the Oldest Fairy of All. "You are fitted to help me in my work. That is the Plant of Knowledge; its crystal blossoms are called the Flowers of Understanding, and its fruit is Love. By it alone can war be made to cease."
She pointed far below. "I have planted it upon the earth in many spots," she said. "Here and there it has flourished and spread, and its fruit has sweetened all the air. But, alas!" her eyes grew sad, "too often it has been trampled under foot and killed, and war has broken out afresh. If only men would care for it and let it grow the world would soon be wrapped in peace."
"In the children's gardens ... they planted the seeds."
"Can we not plant more and more until it spreads across the world in spite of all neglect?" asked Fairy Tenderheart.
The Oldest Fairy shook her head. "I have done my best," she said; "but while men tramp it down it cannot spread across the world. Even when it has grown well it cannot do the good it ought to do: a nation which has eaten of its Fruit of Love and has learned to scorn the littleness of war is yet forced by that same Love to fight, that it may rescue a weak and helpless country from the greedy clutches of those who have refused to let my dear plant bloom. In the end it shall spread, no doubt, and my work shall be complete; but the time is long, the time is long."
She mused, and Fairy Tenderheart gazed thoughtfully upon the earth. Presently she raised her eyes, and they were bright with hope.
"See where a group of children gathers round your precious plant!" she said. "How eagerly they stretch their hands towards it, and how they look into its flashing flowers. They will never tread it in the mud, for they have seen its splendour. Let me take seeds to all the children's gardens in the world. The Children! They will welcome your Plant of Knowledge with its Flowers of Understanding, and when they have tasted its Fruit of Love they will grow up scorning war, and the world will live in peace."