The San Francisco call., 1910-09-25

FLOWER LORE

did not or would not understand. on
ne came climbing after her to persuade
her to renounce her vow and go back
with him. Perceiving that she could
not stop him, Osteetah turned her race
to the sky and leaped from the ciin
into the lake below. The chief sprang
I'm after her, and swan with giant
strokes, searching everywhere Tor her.
But in vain; she was not there. And
after while he went sadly back 10
his people, and the feasting was
changed into mourning, for the BIRD
was loved by all.
The next day a stranger came to the
Indian village, holding In MS nano
new flower. No Indian had ever seen
a flower like it,sand much wonder was
expressed. Their surprise was still
greater when he told them that in the
lake of the Reflected Stars there were
many more just like It, Hurriedly they
went to see for themselves, and sure
enough. there were hundreds OF great
white water lilies floating on the
water.
While they were gazing a man APP
peared dressed in flowing robes, and
he told them that because Osteetah had
been true to her vow the Great Spirit
had given her this form. The white
leaves were for her goodness, the vel
low center her faith the green leaves
a
that every morning she would open to
the sun as he rose, and close when he
sank beneath the horizon in the even
ing.
And so to the Indian the water lily
is the emblem of good faith.
WHERE THE UNDINES LIVE
In Germany 1t is believed that the
Undines, or water spirits, make their
homes in the heart of the water lilies.
AS the night comes on the petals of
the flowers close tightly, shutting in
the water spirits, and slowly sinking
down into the water, to rise in all
their beauty with the morning sun.
There is a story of a German knight,
who loved one of these beautiful
spirits, and made her his wife. Soon
after the marriage he wanted to take
his lady out on the water in a boat,
She begged him not to go, but he
laughed at her fears and fearfully she
slipped into the boat with him. They
had not gone far when hundreds of
little hands dragged the boat and all
under the water, and the next morn
ing two water lilies, larger and more
beautiful than the others, appeared near
where the boat had gone down.
The Wallachians in Roumania have
superstitution that every flower has
a soul and that the water lily sits at
the gate of paradise and solemnly de-
mands of each blossom a strict account
of the use it has made of it's odor.
THE WONDERFUL WATER LILY
The most wonderful water lily In the
world is the victoria regina. 1t was
introduced into England from South
America about 1850 and was named for
England's good queen by Professor
Lndley. who had written a monograph
treating of the flower and it's culture.
The blossoms are enormous, and the
leaves sometimes measure nine feet
across and can bear up man. The
flower is night blooming. The first
evening that 1t opens the blossom Is
white and the odor is almost oppressive.
On the second day when 1t unfolds it
displays pink blossom. This remark
able flower is grown in many gardens,
both public and private, in the United
States.
There has been almost as much at
tention paid in literature to the water
lily as TO the rose or the violet. Tho
reau's chapter on water Lilies Is cool
ing to the most feyered mind. Heine,
Moore, Shelley and Wordsworth have
all paid their tribute to the mystic
flower But it remained for recent
laureate of England to choose IT as an
exquisite emblem of affection.
''Now folds the lily all her sweetness up
And slips into the bosom OF the lake;
So fold thyself my dearest, thou, and slip
Into my bosom, and be lost in me-"
-Tennyson, The Princess"