If she plucked the lily and tried to place it in the sheaf, its beauty would be spoiled. What should she do? With all her heart she longed to take the lily with her to the end of the way. Should she throw the rest away? Would she be welcome with only the one flower? Long she hesitated.
Then she laid the yellow, and the blue, and the red, and the rest aside and carefully gathered it. So in her hand she carried the lily with the petals of pure white and the heart of gold.
And lo, she had come to the stile which endeth the 31 way of girlhood. There, standing guard over the way ahead, was a woman in white, holding by the hand a tiny, little child. Looking straight into the eyes of the girl, she said sweetly,
“Welcome, my child, from the beautiful way of girlhood. What hast thou brought as thy gift to coming generations?”
Then the girl feared to answer. But she held the lily toward the little child as she said, “I have brought purity and a heart of gold.”
“Thou hast done well,” said the mother spirit. “Take thou the child as thy reward. With this as thy gift, thou art worthy to enter the way of motherhood. Lo, here are some of the flowers that were left by the way. Well may they go with thee, for they are very beautiful. But the gift that thou didst choose was far more valuable and beautiful than they. It was the gift that the Great desire.”
Then the girl and the child went together into the new way. But the child was carrying the gift and she smiled as she went.