260 MAEY'S GARDEN AND HOW IT GREW 



"I know ! " 



"Yes?" 



"If he liked to sleep in the cowslips and the pop- 

 pies, why, when the flowers are all gone he just slips 

 down into the ground and curls up inside of the cro- 

 cus bulbs he would like the yellow crocus best. He 

 has a very nice time in the crocus bulb, and he 

 comes up again with the first one. He is n't afraid 

 of the cold there, for the crocus is made out of the 

 Mbelungen gold and little pieces of sunshine." 



"I did not know about the sunshine." 



"The Mother Earth ought to have plenty of it 

 down there," answered the under-gardener, "when 

 it just soaks into the ground all summer. Where else 

 could she get all the yellow from for all the butter- 

 cups and dandelions and tulips? There would n't 

 be enough of the Nibelungen gold to go around." 



"Perhaps you are right," admitted Mr. Trommel. 



"First will come the little snowdrop, and then the 



crocuses, and then the daffodils and the narcissus, and 



then the garden will be awake. The garden does n't 



I really die ; it just goes to sleep and then wakes up, 



does n't it?" 



"Yes," said the old gardener ; "the flowers do not 

 change ; but sometimes the plants grow large, and 



