then dame spring came, one delightfully mild and still night.

no one knows what she looks like, for no one has ever seen her. but all long for her and thank her and bless her. she goes through the wood and touches the flowers and the trees and they bud at once. she goes through the stables and unfastens the animals and lets them out into the field. she goes straight into men’s hearts and makes them glad. she makes it difficult for the best-behaved boy to sit still on his bench at school and occasions a terrible lot of mistakes in the exercise-books.

but she does not do this all at once. she attends to her business night after night and comes first to those who long for her most.

so it happened that, on the very night when she arrived, she went straight off to the anemones, who stood in their green wraps and could no longer curb their impatience.

and one, two, three! there they stood in newly-ironed white frocks and looked so fresh and pretty that the starlings sang their finest songs for sheer joy at the sight of them.

“oh, how lovely it is here!” said the anemones. “how warm the sun is! and how the birds sing! it is a thousand times better than last year.”

but they say this every year, so it doesn’t count.

now there were many others who went quite off their heads when they saw that the anemones were out. there was a schoolboy who wanted to have his summer holidays then and there and then there was the beech, who was most offended.

“aren’t you coming to me soon, dame spring?” he said. “i am a much more important person than those silly anemones and really i can no longer control my buds.”

“i’m coming, i’m coming!” replied dame spring. “but you must give me a little time.”

she went on through the wood. and, at every step, more anemones appeared. they stood in thick bevies round the roots of the beech and bashfully bowed their round heads to the ground.

“look up freely,” said dame spring, “and rejoice in heaven’s bright sun. your lives are but short, so you must enjoy them while they last.”

the anemones did as she told them. they stretched themselves and spread their white petals to every side and drank as much sunshine as they could. they knocked their heads against one another and wound their stalks together and laughed and were constantly happy.

“now i can wait no longer,” said the beech and came into leaf.

leaf after leaf crept out of its green covering and spread out and fluttered in the wind. the whole green crown arched itself like a mighty roof above the ground.

“good heavens, is it evening so soon?” asked the anemones, who thought that it had turned quite dark.