Wild Flowers as They Grow 



sword-like leaves rise directly from the marshy 

 ground and stand erect as bodyguards beside the 

 tall straight stalk which bears aloft the large gold 

 flower and pointed buds. No wonder the Frankish 

 kings of old, when they first stood before their 

 people, bore a flowering spike of Iris as sceptre. 

 From almost prehistoric times it has stood as the 

 symbol of power and majesty ; it was dedicated to 

 Juno Queen of Olympus, and was the origin of the 

 sceptre ; the three leaves of its blossoms typified 

 faith, wisdom and valour. The Eg3^tians placed 

 it on the brow of the Sphinx and on the sceptre of 

 their kings. 



France is specially bound up with the Iris. The 

 legend goes that early in the sixth century King 

 Clovis, a heathen, was on the point of defeat in 

 one of his many battles. His own gods appearing 

 useless in the circumstances, he bethought him of 

 the God of his Christian wife Clothilde, and prayed 

 for victory. He conquered and became a Christian, 

 and, urged by his wife, replaced the three toads on 



26 



