FORGET-ME-NOT. ^(M 



it nourishes, we might fancy they were so many nymphs cele- 

 brating accustomed sports in honour of the naiad of the 

 enchanted oak. 



Though every one knows why this pretty flower is used to 

 express the wish, " Forget-me-not," we must here repeat the 

 story : — Two lovers, on the eve of marriage, were walking on 

 the banks of the Danube. A flower, blue as the deepest sky, 

 swung upon the waves, vv'hich seemed ready to bear it away. 

 The young lady admired its beautiful colour, and bewailed its 

 impending destiny. The affianced bridegroom leaped into the 

 stream, seized the blooming stem, and sunk engulfed in the 

 flowing waters. It is said that, with a last effort, he threw 

 the flower on the bank, and at the moment of his disappear- 

 ance for ever, cried out, *' Love me ; Forget-me-not ! " 



" Pour exprimer Tamour ces fleurs semblent dclore ; 

 Leur langage est un mot, mais il est plein d'appas. 

 Dans la main des amants elles disent encore : 

 Aimez-moi ; ne m'oubliez pas !" 



This, the great Water Scorpion Grass, as a poetical writer, 

 whose namxC we do not know, has said — 



" By rivulet, or spring, or wet road-side, 

 That blue and bright-ey'd flow'ret of the brook, 

 Hope's gentle gem, the sweet ' Forget-me-not,'" 



is very ornamental. The blue of its petals is brilliant, and in 

 the centre is a yellow eye, from which white lines radiate. 

 Other species of the grass are smaller, arc often mistaken for 

 this, and, in the absence of the identical flower, may well be 

 regarded as emblematical of the same sentiment. 



92 



