THE CONCEITED APPLE-BRANCH故事

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　THE CONCEITED APPLE-BRANCH故事
　　    IT was the month of May. The wind still blew cold; but
　　    from bush and tree, field and flower, came the welcome sound,
　　    "Spring is come." Wild-flowers in profusion covered the
　　    hedges. Under the little apple-tree, Spring seemed busy, and
　　    told his tale from one of the branches which hung fresh and
　　    blooming, and covered with delicate pink blossoms that were
　　    just ready to open. The branch well knew how beautiful it was;
　　    this knowledge exists as much in the leaf as in the blood; I
　　    was therefore not surprised when a nobleman's carriage, in
　　    which sat the young countess, stopped in the road just by. She
　　    said that an apple-branch was a most lovely object, and an
　　    emblem of spring in its most charming aspect. Then the branch
　　    was broken off for her, and she held it in her delicate hand,
　　    and sheltered it with her silk parasol. Then they drove to the
　　    castle, in which were lofty halls and splendid drawing-rooms.
　　    Pure white curtains fluttered before the open windows, and
　　    beautiful flowers stood in shining, transparent vases; and in
　　    one of them, which looked as if it had been cut out of newly
　　    fallen snow, the apple-branch was placed, among some fresh,
　　    light twigs of beech. It was a charming sight. Then the branch
　　    became proud, which was very much like human nature.
　　    People of every description entered the room, and,
　　    according to their position in society, so dared they to
　　    express their admiration. Some few said nothing, others
　　    expressed too much, and the apple-branch very soon got to
　　    understand that there was as much difference in the characters
　　    of human beings as in those of plants and flowers. Some are
　　    all for pomp and parade, others have a great deal to do to
　　    maintain their own importance, while the rest might be spared
　　    without much loss to society. So thought the apple-branch, as
　　    he stood before the open window, from which he could see out
　　    over gardens and fields, where there were flowers and plants
　　    enough for him to think and reflect upon; some rich and
            
            

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　　    beautiful, some poor and humble indeed.
　　    "Poor, despised herbs," said the apple-branch; "there is
　　    really a difference between them and such as I am. How unhappy
　　    they must be, if they can feel as those in my position do!
　　    There is a difference indeed, and so there ought to be, or we
　　    should all be equals."
　　    And the apple-branch looked with a sort of pity upon them,
　　    especially on a certain little flower that is found in fields
　　    and in ditches. No one bound these flowers together in a
　　    nosegay; they were too common; they were even known to grow
　　    between the paving-stones, shooting up everywhere, like bad
　　    weeds; and they bore the very ugly name of "dog-flowers" or
　　    "dandelions."
　　    "Poor, despised plants," said the apple-bough, "it is not
　　    your fault that you are so ugly, and that you have such an
　　    ugly name; but it is with plants as with men,- there must be a
　　    difference."
　　    "A difference!" cried the sunbeam, as he kissed the
　　    blooming apple-branch, and then kissed the yellow dandelion
　　    out in the fields. All were brothers, and the sunbeam kissed
　　    them- the poor flowers as well as the rich.
　　    The apple-bough had never thought of the boundless love of
　　    God, which extends over all the works of creation, over
　　    everything which lives, and moves, and has its being in Him;
　　    he had never thought of the good and beautiful which are so
　　    often hidden, but can never remain forgotten by Him,- not only
　　    among the lower creation, but also among men. The sunbeam, the
　　    ray of light, knew better.
　　    "You do not see very far, nor very clearly," he said to
　　    the apple-branch. "Which is the despised plant you so
　　    specially pity?"
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　　bsp; "The dandelion," he replied. "No one ever places it in a
　　    nosegay; it is often trodden under foot, there are so many of
　　    them; and when they run to seed, they have flowers like wool,
　　    which fly away in little pieces over the roads, and cling to
            
            

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　　    the dresses of the people. They are only weeds; but of course
　　    there must be weeds. O, I am really very thankful that I was
　　    not made like one of these flowers."
　　    There came presently across the fields a whole group of
　　    children, the youngest of whom was so small that it had to be
　　    carried by the others; and when he was seated on the grass,
　　    among the yellow flowers, he laughed aloud with joy, kicked
　　    out his little legs, rolled about, plucked the yellow flowers,
　　    and kissed them in childlike innocence. The elder children
　　    broke off the flowers with long stems, bent the stalks one
　　    round the other, to form links, and made first a chain for the
　　    neck, then one to go across the shoulders, and hang down to
　　    the waist, and at last a wreath to wear round the head, so
　　    that they looked quite splendid in their garlands of green
　　    stems and golden flowers. But the eldest among them gathered
　　    carefully the faded flowers, on the stem of which was grouped
　　    together the seed, in the form of a white feathery coronal.
　　    These loose, airy wool-flowers are very beautiful, and look
　　    like fine snowy feathers or down. The children held them to
　　    their mouths, and tried to blow away the whole coronal with
　　    one puff of the breath. They had been told by their
　　    grandmothers that who ever did so would be sure to have new
　　    clothes before the end of the year. The despised flower was by
　　    this raised to the position of a prophet or foreteller of
　　    events.
　　    "Do you see," said the sunbeam, "do you see the beauty of
　　    these flowers? do you see their powers of giving pleasure?"
　　    "Yes, to children," said the apple-bough.
　　    By-and-by an old woman came into the field, and, with a
　　    blunt knife without a handle, began to dig round the roots of
　　    some of the dandelion-plants, and pull them up. With some of
　　    these she intended to make tea for herself; but the rest she
　　    was going to sell to the chemist, and obtain some money.
　　    "But beauty is of higher value than all this," said the
            
            

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分页标题#e#　　    apple-tree branch; "only the chosen ones can be admitted into
　　    the realms of the beautiful. There is a difference between
　　    plants, just as there is a difference between men."
　　    Then the sunbeam spoke of the boundless love of God, as
　　    seen in creation, and over all that lives, and of the equal
　　    distribution of His gifts, both in time and in eternity.
　　    "That is your opinion," said the apple-bough.
　　    Then some people came into the room, and, among them, the
　　    young countess,- the lady who had placed the apple-bough in
　　    the transparent vase, so pleasantly beneath the rays of the
　　    sunlight. She carried in her hand something that seemed like a
　　    flower. The object was hidden by two or three great leaves,
　　    which covered it like a shield, so that no draught or gust of
　　    wind could injure it, and it was carried more carefully than
　　    the apple-branch had ever been. Very cautiously the large
　　    leaves were removed, and there appeared the feathery
　　    seed-crown of the despised dandelion. This was what the lady
　　    had so carefully plucked, and carried home so safely covered,
　　    so that not one of the delicate feathery arrows of which its
　　    mist-like shape was so lightly formed, should flutter away.
　　    She now drew it forth quite uninjured, and wondered at its
　　    beautiful form, and airy lightness, and singular construction,
　　    so soon to be blown away by the wind.
　　    "See," she exclaimed, "how wonderfully God has made this
　　    little flower. I will paint it with the apple-branch together.
　　Every one admires the beauty of the apple-bough; but this
　　    humble flower has been endowed by Heaven with another kind of
　　    loveliness; and although they differ in appearance, both are
　　    the children of the realms of beauty."
　　    Then the sunbeam kissed the lowly flower, and he kissed
　　    the blooming apple-branch, upon whose leaves appeared a rosy
　　    blush.
　　    THE END