The Snowdrop. 341 



Its legendary history is fairly well known to a few interested 

 in the flower; although, one fears, it will hardly be accepted 

 as authentic in these critical days. The more common legend 

 regarding its origin has a few trifling variations, but the follow- 

 ing may be considered a good example of the legendary treat- 

 ment of the origin of the Snowdrop. I have no idea of its 

 antiquity, but it is curious to note regarding its statement that 

 the Snowdrop was not created until after the expulsion from 

 Eden, that John Parkinson, whose " Paradisus ' ' appeared in 

 1656, gives as its frontispiece an illustration of Adam and Eve in 

 the garden of Eden, and shows in this several plants well known 

 to us, and at least one purely fabulous — the " Vegetable Lamb." 

 He omits, however, the Galanthus, and it is possibly owing to 

 the existence of the legend in his day. 



The story runs thus: — After our first parents were driven 

 out of Paradise, Eve, it is said, was mourning over the barren 

 earth, and the driving snow kept falling, to form, as it were, a 

 pall for the earth's funeral after the fall of man. An angel was 

 sent to comfort Eve, and, while bringing her a message of 

 comfort, he caught a flake of falling snow, and, breathing on 

 it, bade it take a form, and bud and blow. Before the snow- 

 flake reached the earth it was suddenly transformed into a lovely 

 plant, which Eve prized far more than other flowers she had 

 seen in Paradise, for the angel said to her: — 



" This is an earnest. Eve, to thee, 



That sun and summer soon shall be." 



The angel's mission being completed, he took his flight to 

 heaven, but where he had stood on earth there appeared a ring 

 of snowdrops. Another legend, which, by the way, I found in a 

 charming little book for children, called " Alexis and his 

 Flowers," written by Miss Beatrix Cresswell, and prettily illus- 

 trated by Miss H. Cresswell, of Xunholm House, Dumfries, 

 gives a difi'erent story, but one teaching the same lesson of hope. 

 It tells that Hope was weeping over the death of nature in the 

 cold winter time, and where her tears fell they melted the snow, 

 and snowdrops sprang up ; henceforth they have been the flowers 

 of Hope. Trivial as these legends may appear, they are valu- 

 able to students of folk-lore, and to all who can appreciate how 

 such simple things as flowers appeal to the higher and deeper 

 thoughts of men and women. 



