LITTLE IDA'S FLOWERS
Y POOR flowers are quite faded!" said little Ida. "Only yesterday evening they were so pretty, and now all the leaves are drooping. Why do they do that?" she asked of the student, who sat on the sofa. He was a great favorite with her, because he used to tell her the prettiest of stories and cut out the most amusing things in paper—hearts with little ladies dancing in them, and high castles with doors which one could open and shut. He was a merry student. "Why do the flowers look so wretched to-day?" asked she again, showing him a bouquet of faded flowers.
"Do you not know?" replied the student. "The flowers went to a ball last night, and are tired. That's why they hang their heads."
"What an idea," exclaimed little Ida. "Flowers cannot dance!"
"Of course they can dance! When it is dark, and we are all gone to bed, they jump about as merrily as possible. They have a ball almost every night."
"And can their children go to the ball?" asked Ida.
"Oh, yes," said the student; "daisies and lilies of the valley, that are quite little."
"And when is it that the prettiest flowers dance?"
"Have you not been to the large garden outside the town gate, in front of the castle where the king lives in summer—the garden that is so full of lovely flowers? You surely remember the swans which come swimming up when you give them crumbs of bread? Believe me, they have capital balls there."