The Happy Lily

 THERE was once a beautiful white Lily who lived in a green garden, and had all the happiness of sun and dew¹ that can come into a flower’s life. Only one thing saddened her; now and then the gardener would come and gather some of her sisters: he took them away, and she never saw them again. One dreadful² day the gardener came with a sharp knife and cut the Lily’s stalk³ and carried her away in his hand. As she went she shed⁴ bitter tears, and the gardener said: “What a lot of dew there is in this Lily!”

 

When she was brought to the house she was placed in a tall green vase and set by the bedside of a little sick child. When the child saw her beauty his tired eyes lighted up with pleasure, and he cried: “Oh, the dear Lily! Mother, when can I go out to see the other lilies growing?” And from that moment he began to get better.

 

“It was the Lily did it,” said his Mother, with tears of happiness. “He was so tired that if the Lily had not come to cheer him, he might have gone to sleep and never wakened⁵ here again.”

 

The Lily tried hard not to fade. She held herself up bravely, and day by day the sick child looked at the Lily and grew stronger and stronger. And at last a day came when he was well enough to be taken into the garden to see the lilies growing, and when he was gone the Lily drooped⁶ and drooped, for she felt that the end of her pretty green and white life was near. But though she was sad, she was not sorry, for she felt that she had done some good with her life. And as she drooped there a white butterfly came fluttering⁷ in. “Oh, happy Lily!” he cried. And she looked sadly at him. “I am not sorry—only sad,” she said.

 

“Sad,” he said; “do not you know what happens to all flowers who are able to help and comfort any little child? When they die, they turn into fairies and can fly for ever through all the green gardens of the world. The other flowers will only be flowers next year, but you will be a fairy.”

 

And as he spoke⁸ the Lily died and became a fairy, and she and the butterfly spread their white wings and flew out into the sunshine together.

 

E. Nesbit.

1 dew   

n.露，露水

参考例句：

• His new shoes were wet with dew.他的那双新鞋被露水弄湿了。
• The dew on the branches drizzled our hair and shoulders.枝头上的露珠润湿了我们的头发和双肩。

2 dreadful   

adj.糟透了的，极端的，可怕的，令人畏惧的

参考例句：

• I cannot imagine what to do in this dreadful situation.我不能想像在这么糟的情况下该怎么办。
• I must apologize for the dreadful mistake I made.我为我所犯的严重错误深表歉意。

3 stalk   

n.茎，追踪，高视阔步；v.悄悄靠近，蔓延，高视阔步

参考例句：

• It's no better than a hollow stalk.那比根空麦秆子好不了多少。
• It was not a stalk，it was an ambush.这不是暗暗跟踪而是伏袭。

4 shed   

n.车棚，小屋，脱落之物，分水岭；vt.使流出，放射，脱落，散发，摆脱；vi. 流出

参考例句：

• There are a lot of straws in the shed.棚子里有许多稻草。
• His nose told him that he was getting near the cow shed.他的嗅觉告诉他，他正走近牛棚。

5 wakened   

v.醒来，睡醒( waken的过去式和过去分词 )；唤醒，弄醒；（使）觉醒， （使）振奋，激发

参考例句：

• The child had just wakened. 这孩子刚醒。
• Nature seems to be wakened from a dead sleep. 大自然似乎从沉睡中被唤醒了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

6 drooped   

弯曲或下垂，发蔫( droop的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Her eyelids drooped as if she were on the verge of sleep. 她眼睑低垂好像快要睡着的样子。
• The flowers drooped in the heat of the sun. 花儿晒蔫了。

7 fluttering   

v.飘动( flutter的现在分词 )；（心）快速跳动；振翼，拍翅膀

参考例句：

• The women were all fluttering about finishing their preparations for the wedding. 女人们做好婚礼准备后显得不安。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• It was autumn, and leaves were fluttering down in the light wind. 现在是秋天，树叶在微风中飘落下来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。