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Sunbeam together stole from the air, and turned over 
into the plant. 
If one looks at a piece of coal with the eyes which 
one keeps for the little picture gallery all children carry 
in their heads, one sees more than just a shining, black 
lump. One sees a plant that grew upon the earth 
thousands of years ago, with its bright green leaves 
dancing in the sunlight; for without those green leaves 
and that sunlight, there could be no coal for burning 
to-day. And when we light our coal fire, what we 
really do is to set free the sunbeams that worked their 
way so long ago into the plant cells. 
It is more like a fairy story than ever. Sunbeam is 
the noble knight who fought his way into the cell where 
Leaf Green lay imprisoned, doomed to perform a task 
which was beyond her power. But with the aid of 
the noble Sunbeam, she did this piece of work, and 
then both fell asleep, and slept for a thousand years. 
Awakening at last, together they made their joyful 
escape in the flame that leaps from out the black 
coal. 
In truth, a sunbeam and a flame are not so unlike 
as to make this story as improbable as many others 
that we read. 
And because I have told it to you in the shape of 
a fairy story, you must not think it is not true. It 
is indeed true. Everywhere in the sunshiny woods 
and fields of summer, the story of Leaf Green and 
Sunbeam is being lived. But when the day is cloudy 
or the sun sets, then there is no Sunbeam to help the 
Princess, and then no carbon is stolen from the air. 
