Little Ida’s Flowers

“My flowers are all withered!” said Little Ida. “They were fine yesterday, but now the branches and leaves are withered. How could they be like this? ?" she asked a student sitting on the sofa. She loves this student very much because he has many very interesting stories. He can cut paper and express many interesting things, such as: a little girl dancing in his heart, flowers, and a picture of a big palace that can open the door by itself. He is a cheerful student.

"Why are the flowers so listless today?" she asked again, pointing to the dry flowers to show him.

"Do you know what they did yesterday?" the student said, "They went to the dance last night. So they are listless today."

"Can they also dance? said little Ida.

"Of course!" the student said, "In the evening, when we all go to bed, they start to dance hand in hand. They hold a dance party almost every night!"

"Can children go?"

"Yes!" the student said, "Even the little chrysanthemums and lilies of the valley can go."

"Then where are they holding the dance party? ?" asked Little Ida.

"Have you ever been to the palace outside the city? The emperor vacationed there every summer. There are also the most beautiful gardens with colorful flowers. There are also swans there. If you throw crumbs to them , they will come towards you. The dance is held there, really!”

“I went there with my mother yesterday,” said little Ida, “but the trees there were all different. They are bare and the flowers are gone. I saw many of them in the summer. Where are they hiding now? "

"They have all gone to the palace," said the student. When his ministers returned to the city, they immediately moved from the garden to the palace to play. You should go and see! There are two beautiful roses on the emperor's throne, that is, the emperor and the queen of flowers are all side by side. Standing on both sides and bowing, they are the ministers of the Flower Emperor. After all kinds of beautiful flowers have arrived, the ball is officially underway. The blue violets are the students of the Naval Academy. They politely invite the hyacinths and crocuses. Dancing. Tulip and Lily are old ladies, they maintain the order of the dance and ask everyone to be polite." "But no one will care about them when they dance there?" asked little Ida.

"Because everyone doesn't know it!" the student said, "but sometimes the old caretaker of the palace will go to see it at night. He has to be on duty there at night. He has many keys. If the flower hears the key, The old man who looked after them would keep silent and just peeked his head quietly. "It's very fragrant here!"

"How interesting!" Little Ida clapped her hands and said, "But, can I see them?"

"Yes!" said the student, "If you go again, just look through the window quietly, that way you can see them Yes! This is what I saw today. There was a narcissus lying lazily on the sofa. She was imagining herself as a noble in the palace! "Can they go to the botanical garden? It’s far away!”

“Okay, don’t worry,” the student said, “They can still fly if they want to! Don’t you see butterflies of various colors? Flowers are similar, in fact they are flowers! They used to jump out from the flower branches, and their petals were like wings. So they could fly during the day, because they were polite. There is no need to stand on the branches. Slowly they have real wings. You must have seen the flowers in the botanical garden. Maybe they don’t know those things yet! Even the professor who lives not far away will be surprised. You are familiar with him, right? If you go to his garden, send a message to the flowers there and tell them that there is a dance in the palace.

Flowers spread to each other, and those flowers will fly to join. When the professor came back, his flowers were gone. He had no idea where they had gone! ”

“But flowers can’t speak. How do they tell other flowers? ”

“Although they can’t speak, they can make different appearances! You see, when there is wind, they will shake their heads and let the leaves shake with them. They can understand what this look means! "

"Does that professor understand? "Little Ida asked.

"He also knows. One morning, when he went to the garden, he saw a nettle tree greeting the beautiful Dutch carnation with its branches and leaves! It said: 'You are so beautiful, I like you! ’ But the professor didn’t like this, so he hit the nettle leaf with his hand. The leaf was the nettle’s greeting hand. But he was hurt by the sting of the nettle. From now on, he would not dare to hit the nettle again. ”

“How interesting! "Little Ida burst out laughing.

"Such a thing to say to a child! "said a hateful privy councilor. He happened to be here to visit the master and was sitting on the sofa. He hated this student. He was not satisfied that he was not allowed to see the interesting appearance of the student's paper cuttings. Some of these paper cuttings were cut out. A man hanging on the gallows, holding a heart in his hand, showing that he had captured many hearts; an old witch holding her husband with her nose and flying on a broomstick. The Privy Councilor did not like this. Planting things, so I always say: "This kind of thing is also said to a child. It's all irrational delusions. ”

But little Ida liked the story about the flowers told by the students very much. She thought repeatedly: The flowers were listless because they were tired from dancing all night. They were probably sick. So she put them with other toys Put them together. Those things are placed on a beautiful table, and the drawers are all her favorite things. Her little toy Sophia is sleeping on the toy bed. Little Ida said: "Sofia, get up. . You're going to sleep in a drawer tonight. The unfortunate flowers are sick. If you give them your bed, maybe they will recover. "Then she removed the toy. But Sophia was not happy. She said nothing. Of course she would be unhappy if she could not sleep in her own bed.

Little Ida put the flowers on the toy bed and They were covered with quilts. She also told them to have a good rest. She would make tea for them now, and they would be fine again tomorrow. Then she closed the curtains to block the dazzling sunlight.

This She thought about the story told by her students all night, and when she went to bed, she couldn't help but look back through the closed curtains. There were beautiful flowers planted by her mother on the windowsill, including hyacinths and crocuses, she whispered. : “You’re going to dance tonight. "But these flowers pretended not to understand, and the leaves did not move at all, but little Ida knew it in her heart.

She lay in bed unable to sleep. She thought, if she could see the beautiful flowers blooming in the palace How wonderful it would be to have a ball! “I don’t know if my flowers have been there! "Then she fell asleep. She woke up in the middle of the night; she dreamed of flowers and students, and of the Privy Councilor who always blamed him for telling nonsense to children. Little Ida's house was quiet. There was a light on the table. Lantern, both parents have fallen asleep.

“Are my flowers still on Sophia’s bed? "She thought, "I really want to see it! "She raised her head slightly and looked towards the half-closed door. There were her flowers and toys outside the door. She listened carefully and it seemed that someone was playing the piano outside. The sound was beautiful and gentle. She had never heard it before.

"The flowers must have started dancing by now! "She said, "Oh God! How I wish I could see them! "But she was afraid of waking up her parents.

"It would be nice if they came here! "She thought. But the flowers did not come. The sound of the piano continued, very beautiful, so beautiful! She couldn't bear it, so she got up and walked gently to the door and looked into the room: Ha! How interesting!

There are no lights in the house, but it is bright. The moonlight shines through the windows, just like daytime. Hyacinths and crocuses stand in two rows on the windowsill. They all ran down, leaving only empty flower pots, with all kinds of flowers dancing, how beautiful they are! They are connected into a straight line; the green leaves are holding the green leaves, and the waist is swinging; the one playing the piano is the yellow lily.

Little Ida clearly remembered seeing it in the summer! At that time, the student also said: "This flower looks like Miss Lini!" Others made fun of him at that time. Now, little Ida thinks it really looks like it. The way she plays the piano is exactly the same: her round face turns this way, then that, and sometimes she nods, integrating with the beautiful melody.

None of them paid attention to little Ida. A huge blue primrose jumped up on the table, which was full of toys. It jumped to the toy bed and parted the curtains. The sick flower immediately got up on it and said hello to the other flowers, indicating that they should join the procession. The old toy chimney sweep stood up and saluted the flowers. His chin was a little broken. The flowers didn't seem to be sick at all. They played happily with other flowers.

Suddenly, something fell on the table. Little Ida saw that it was someone else's carnival gift - a birch stick. It jumped off the table and wanted to join the ranks of flowers. It was also very interesting. There was a little wax man on its back with a big hat on its head, like On the Privy Councilor's head, it jumped into the middle of the flowers with three legs and stamped its feet. It turned out to be dancing the Polish polka dance. But other flowers can't be like this, they are light.

The birch strips on the back and the wax figures grew larger. He pounced on the flower and said, "You can't even tell a child this kind of thing. It's all irrational delusion." The wax man was exactly the same as the Privy Councilor, and his face was blue with anger. The flower knocked his skinny foot, causing him to return to his original shape. It’s so funny to look at him! Little Ida almost burst into laughter, and the birch strips continued to dance, so that the Privy Councilor could only follow. It did not matter now whether he was older or younger, or whether he was the yellow wax man with the big hat. At this time, other flowers - especially the flowers sleeping on the toy bed, flattered him a few times, so the birch tree stopped jumping and let him rest for a while.

There was also a commotion in the drawer at this time - little Ida's toy Sophia was there with other toys. The chimney sweep hurried up and lay on the ground, pushing up the drawer with his back. Sophia showed her head and looked around, surprised.

"There's a ball going on," she said. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Do you want to dance with me?" said the chimney sweep.

"This man is so handsome!" she said and turned around.

She sat on the drawer; she had thought that there must be flowers inviting her. But the flowers did not come. So she deliberately coughed, but still nothing, and the chimney sweep was dancing solo at this time! Dances very well!

Since no one invited her, Sophia had to pretend to fall from the drawer and knock the floor loudly. Other flowers came to ask her. Everyone was very kind, especially the flowers who slept on her bed. But she was unscathed. Little Ida's flowers thanked the soft bed, held it high in the moonlit center, and danced with her. The other flowers held hands around her. Sophia was so happy now! She said they could sleep as long as they wanted and it was okay if she slept in the drawer.

But the flower said: "We thank you from the bottom of our hearts, but our lifespan is not long and we will leave this world tomorrow. Please tell Little Ida, please bury us in the garden. It turns out that Jin The bird's grave is also there. The next summer, we will wake up again, and it will be even more beautiful!"

"No, I won't let you die!" Sophia said, kissing the flowers one by one.

The door of the hall was suddenly pushed open, and many flowers came in dancing. Little Ida did not know where they came from, but they must have come from the king's palace. Leading the way are two beautiful roses. They wear golden crowns on their heads, which are the emperors and queens of flowers, followed by violets and carnations, which bow on all sides. There was also a band accompanying him. Poppies and peonies are blowing their pods. Blue hyacinths and white snow-shaped flowers jingle their bells, what a funny melody! After a while, other flowers came, all dancing, including blue wattle flowers, red cherry blossoms, chrysanthemums, and orchids. Everyone hugged each other and were extremely happy!

Later, everyone said goodbye to each other. Little Ida crawled into bed; she dreamed the whole thing again.

When she got up the next day, she hurried to the table to look at the flowers. She pushed aside the curtain covering the cot. The flowers were all lying down, but weaker than the day before. Sophia was still asleep in the drawer, and little Ida put her on the bed. She looked confused.

"Do you remember what you wanted to say to me?" Little Ida asked, but Sophia naively said nothing.

"You are evil!" said little Ida, "but others still dance with you."

Then she took out a small cardboard box with a bird painted on it, and put the withered Flowers are placed inside.

"This is the coffin!" she said. "When my Norwegian cousins ??come, we will bury you in the garden, and next summer you will wake up again."

The Norwegian cousins, one named Jonas and one named Adolph, are very active. They also brought their father's gifts - four bows. She told them about the dead flower, and they buried the flower. The two brothers led the way. Little Ida followed behind, holding a beautiful cardboard box with little flowers. They dug a hole in the garden, and little Ida kissed the flowers before burying them. Jonas and Adolph had no salutes or guns, so they fired arrows in salute.