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The Daffodil
A rich man had two sons. Just before he died he gave his house and lands to his elder son. To his younger son he gave only one small rocky field, but he had his reason for doing so, as was later learned.
The elder brother made a great feast, and began to spend his substance, and soon had nothing left.
The younger brother went into a far country. Poor and sad, he wandered about without a home. One day he lay down to rest near a singing brook. All around him the hillside was yellow with the bloom of daffodils.
In his dreams a water fairy stood before him. “Take up the plants that bloom around you,” she said. “Carry them to your own country and plant them in your rocky field. A charm shall be upon the plants, and he who works and waits shall reap a golden harvest.”
The young man awoke. No fairy was in sight. But the yellow flowers nodded to him as if to say, “Take us; we will help you.”
All day long he worked, digging up the bulbs of the daffodils. Then he walked the long, long way that led back to his home. There he planted the bulbs in his own rocky field. Soon little green blades sprang up between the rocks. Week after week the young man cared for the plants until he came to love them.
After awhile buds grew on the plants, and then they blossomed out in beautiful yellow blooms. The people came from far and near to see the wonderful golden flowers. To everyone who came the young man gave a flower, and soon they came to buy more.
In a few years the young man had saved a goodly sum of money from this field of daffodils, and he went and bought his old home, which his older brother had lost because of spending his money foolishly.
And now, when the daffodil story is told in that far-off land, the people say: “Work is the fairy charm that brings the golden harvest.”
by Author Unknown: as published in “Brook’s Reader”
A rich man had two sons. Just before he died he gave his house and lands to his elder son. To his younger son he gave only one small rocky field, but he had his reason for doing so, as was later learned.
The elder brother made a great feast, and began to spend his substance, and soon had nothing left.
The younger brother went into a far country. Poor and sad, he wandered about without a home. One day he lay down to rest near a singing brook. All around him the hillside was yellow with the bloom of daffodils.
In his dreams a water fairy stood before him. “Take up the plants that bloom around you,” she said. “Carry them to your own country and plant them in your rocky field. A charm shall be upon the plants, and he who works and waits shall reap a golden harvest.”
The young man awoke. No fairy was in sight. But the yellow flowers nodded to him as if to say, “Take us; we will help you.”
All day long he worked, digging up the bulbs of the daffodils. Then he walked the long, long way that led back to his home. There he planted the bulbs in his own rocky field. Soon little green blades sprang up between the rocks. Week after week the young man cared for the plants until he came to love them.
After awhile buds grew on the plants, and then they blossomed out in beautiful yellow blooms. The people came from far and near to see the wonderful golden flowers. To everyone who came the young man gave a flower, and soon they came to buy more.
In a few years the young man had saved a goodly sum of money from this field of daffodils, and he went and bought his old home, which his older brother had lost because of spending his money foolishly.
And now, when the daffodil story is told in that far-off land, the people say: “Work is the fairy charm that brings the golden harvest.”
by Author Unknown: as published in “Brook’s Reader”
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