THE DANDELION. 45 



cated that its foundations had been laid 

 in troublous times. There grew the dan- 

 delion, the friend of fallen greatness, and 

 thither the children from the hamlet in the 

 valley would come up to gather its bright 

 flowers. Some plucked them because of their 

 golden hue ; others carefully filled their lit- 

 tle baskets with the leaves, because their 

 mothers liked them for an evening salad : 

 and when the village fete drew on, the 

 youngsters aided the music of the merry 

 dancers with a humble imitation of Pan- 

 dean pipes, made from the hollow flower- 

 stalks, fitted one into the other. But the 

 sphere, the globe-like sphere, that is the 

 glory of the dandelion ! How light ! how 

 elegant ! formed of small arrows, and every 

 seed with its own shaft and plume ! A tem- 

 pest is required to disperse the winged seeds 

 of the stately cedar to any considerable dis- 

 tance, but the breath of the zephyr resows 



