Come, take a look at our flower field. What a wonderful place to set up a festival! The sun and the whole crowd of bees agree. Won’t we ask the drummers, the musicians, and the jugglers?
Our ever-joyous Tilly the Turtle stood on a green hill in the middle of a large patch of soft, moist green sun-decked grass. Not far from her stood her friend, Freddie the Frog; both had noticed that it was time to hold the yearly festival.
It was a pretty sight that greeted them. The cup-shaped hyacinths, the yellow daffodils nodding to each other, the deep blue iris, and the white blooming narcissi all grew in a rather disorderly fashion. But who cares! After all, they were relatives, and blood is thicker than water.
The sun smiled and poured down into the delicate blossoms light and warmth. The wild roses smiled and nodded to each other. The violets tried hard to keep still, but could not help opening their blue eyes and looking up at their beloved sun.
“Oh,” said Tilly the Turtle, “what a lovely festival we will have tomorrow!”
“Indeed, we shall,” croaked Freddie, thumping the ground.
“But where shall we get our musicians from?” asked Tilly; “and the jugglers?”
“There are so many juggler-birds and musicians in the chorus of us frogs. Leave everything to me,” said Freddie; and he hopped off to summon the musicians and jugglers.
Tilly climbed the slope, sat down, and watched the flowers till her friend returned.
Freddie had been long away, and when he eventually returned, he told all the news. One soldier before the King. That is an old saying! So off went Tilly direct to the flower field, and questioned and begged all her flower friends to come for once and for all to a flower festival. The flowers all agreed; now they only waited for the animals.
There were not only the flowers present, but all the rabbits, and rats, and moles, and men, and did not the sticks just bloom when the wind blew on them?
And when they had drunk a whole glass of sunny drink and eaten eel, they chatted pleasantly together, while bees, and birds, and human eyes gazed up lovingly at the beauty of the flower festival.