The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1894-05-10
FLOWER LEGENDS.
Pretty Stories from the Myths of the
Aneients.

| Ancients.
/ We are told by those curious in such
statistics that more than third part
| of all flowers yet ayamined-1,1 92
| among 4, 000-are white; that bees have
| strange preference for blue flowers,
and that of all colors of these gay chill
dren of the spring yellow is most dura-
| Bile. These faces may delight the evo-
lntionists, but men in general, and
| especially women, whose province is
flowers, take more pleasure in the leg
| ends of their origin and symbolism.
The Grecian mythology and the Chris
tian legends abound in such personif-
cation and ascription of flowers to par
| ticular beings and events.
OF Greek flower myths, the best
known are those of the hyacinth and
| the narcissus. Hyacinth was beauti-
full youth beloved by Apollo and
| Zephyr, the gentle south wind. One
day when the god and the mortal were
| throwing the heavy Discus, Zephyr
| guided it against the head of the youth,
who sank dying into Apollo's arms.
The grieving god caused delicate purple
| flowers to grow from the blood of
| OAhS JOuOll w III llONCio VI plSCSSb
which still bear the name of hyacinth.
Narcissus, the son of river god and
| nymph, had made many nymphs I'M
| happy by his wondrous beauty and
| naughty scorn, principal victim being
| Echo, whom Juno, in punishment of
too great loquacity, had condemned to
l<8peak only in the last words of an
other. Through rejected love, Echo
| had pinned away to rock and a sound,
when Venus chastised Narcissus for
his scorn of her power. Weary with
| hunting, he was resting by crystal
| spring, in which he beheld his own
form and face. Not until he had fallen
| deeply in love with The beautiful image
did he know that it was but shadow
of himself Consumed by his passion,
he forgot food and sleep and remained
gazing in the spring until he had
| dwindled into the cold, white flower
| that perpetuates his name.
Flowers in Christian story are mostly
associated with some Bible character
or medieval saint-the spring snow
| drop, for instance, with the sin of Eve.
After the expulsion from paradise,
| snow fell and icy winds chilled the i'll
clad pair, as Eve sat on the ground
with an infant son in her arms and
wept for what she had sinned away.
Then appeared an angel who, taking
some snow in his hand shaped small
flower out of it, and said:
| Take this snowdrop as sign that
the winter will soon be past; every
year it will bloom in the snow, to bid
thee hope for the advancing spring"
| Many flowers also are connected with
the crucifxion, among them the rose.
| We are told that when Christ hung on
the cross, angels who, in medieval
tradition. collected from his side the
blood preserved in the Holy Grail
touched with his robe the earth where
drops of blood had fallen. Immedia-
tely the cross was surrounded by frag-
rant red flowers, growing upward,
that their dying Master might be
strengthened by their scent. And be-
cause the rose was thus present at the
crucifXion, it became by heavenly
command the queen of flowers.
The Virgin Mary is the center of
many Roman Catholic legends. The
marigold is supposed to have taken it's
color from her fair hair-greatly adj
mired in the east because of it's con-
trast to the ordinary dark brown or
black. The lily is her especial attri-
butte, the emblem of her nature. Ira
dition says that when the disciples had
| buried her she rose glorifed from her
grave and was borne to heaven by
angels. Her mourning followers
blinded by her glory, looked down into
the grave she had left, and behold! it
was full of snow-white lilies, which
they gathered reverently and planted
in memory of her
But of all flower legends those most
| popular in Germanic countries are con-
nected with the forget-me-not. One
refers to the creation of the flowers
God had named them one by one, but
the little blue flower had been neg
lected, so it lifted its tiny head in hui
mility and whispered; Forget me
not" The Lord then named it in its
own words. Another legend says that
two German lovers were walking by
stream, gathering flowers for the
bridal wreath. The bride longed for
blue flower growing in the water;
the bridegroom, trying to reach it, was
carried away by the current. Throw
ing the little flower on the bank, he
cried: Forget me not" and sank. His
| dying words became the name of the
little flower. detroit Free Press.