In a beautiful large forest, with tall green trees and green grass as soft as a velvet carpet, lived many faires.

One beautiful day in August, a fairy by the name of Nema gave a dancing party. She invited all her friends from far and near. By two o'clock they were all there. They danced all of the afternoon, stopping only long enough to refresh themselves with a drink of the fresh, clear, sparkling water, which was served in small, green pitchers.

Towards evening they all grew tired and sat down to rest when some of them noticed that a flood was coming. Then all began to run toward a great mountain, which was many miles away. Many of them reached the top of the mountain before the flood came, but many were over taken by the flood.

It took a long time for the water to dry up, and in the meanwhile the fairies decided to make their home here. It was very hard for them to get used to this mountain. Instead of the clear, sparkling, spring water which they were used to drinking, they had to drink the brown rain-water. The ground was very hard and not at all soft like the green grass. There were no tall trees, but small shrubs. All these things made it hard for the fairies, but in time they became used to these things.

Many attempts were made to come down from the mountain, but each time they had to go back because the water was still too deep. One day the valley beneath looked as tho it was quite dry, so the fairies started to go down the mountain side toward their old home. As they were walking along they came upon a marsh which was too wet for them to cross. They then decided to walk around the marsh which was very large. In doing this they lost their way and did not know whether they were going the right way or not. At last they came to a large forest which resembled their old home very much, only that the ground was very wet and marshy.

They noticed that a few new plants which they had never seen before were springing up. One of the plants was a plant with a red flower on a tall stalk. The leaves were near the ground and formed like a pitcher, which was half filled with a sweet substance. They then decided that this was their old home and that the pitchers they had used many years ago at their party, had grown into plants.

{Note: This story was included in the booklet, The Origin of Flowers, which was written in June 1906}

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