The Land of the Blue Flower

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Part one. The land of the Blue Flower was not
called by that name until the tall, strong, beautiful King
Amor came down from his castle on the mountain Crag
and began to reign. Before that time it was called
King Morideth's land, and as the first King Moridath had
been a fierce and cruel king, this seemed a gloomy name.

(00:24):
A few weeks before Amor was born, his weak, selfish
boy father, whose name was King Mordath, also had been
killed while hunting, and his fair mother with the clear eyes,
died when he was but a few hours old. But
early in that day she sent for her venerable friend
and teacher, who was said to be the oldest and

(00:45):
wisest man in the world, and who long ago had
fled to a cave in the mountains, that he might
see no more of the famine and disorder and hatred
in the country spread out on the plains below. He
was a marvelous old man, almost a giant in size,
and having great blue eyes like deep sea water. They

(01:06):
too were clear eyes, like the fair queen's. They seemed
to see all things, and to hold in their depths
no single thought which was not fine and great. The
people were a little afraid of him when they saw
him go striding majestically through their streets. They had no
name for him, but the Ancient One. The lovely Queen,

(01:28):
drew aside the embroidered coverlet of her gold and ivory
bed and showed him the tiny baby sleeping by her side.
He was born a king, she said. No one can
help him but you. The ancient One looked down at him.
He has long limbs and strong ones. He will make

(01:49):
a great king, he said, Give him to me. The
Queen held out the little newborn one in her arms.
Take him away quickly before he hears the people quarreling
at the palace gate. She said, take him to the
castle on the mountain, Craig. Keep him there until he
is old enough to come down and be king. When

(02:10):
the sun sinks behind the cloud's eye shall die. But
if he is with you, he will learn what kings
should know. The Ancient One took the child, folded him
in his long gray robe, and strode majestically through the
palace gates, through the ugly city, and out over the
plains to the mountain. When he began to climb its

(02:30):
steep sides. The sun was setting and casting a golden
rose color over the big rocks and the wild flowers
and bushes which grew on every side, so that there
seemed no path to be found. But the Ancient One
knew his way anywhere in the world. Without a path
to guide him, he climbed and climbed, and little King
Amore slept soundly in the folds of his gray robe.

(02:53):
He reached the summit at last, and pushed his way
through a jungle of twisted vines, starred all over with pale,
sweet scented b uds. He stood looking at the castle,
which was set on the very topmost crag, and looked
out over the mountain's edge at the sea and the
sky and the spreading plains below. The sky was dark
blue now and lit by myriad stars, and all was

(03:16):
so still that the world seemed thousands of miles away
an ugliness and squalor, and people who quarreled seemed things
which were not true. A sweet, cool wind blew about
them as the Ancient One took King Amor from the
folds of his gray robe and laid him on the
carpet of scented moss. The stars are very near, he said, Waken,

(03:39):
young king, and see how near they are, and know
they are your brothers, your brother. The wind is bringing
to you the breath of your brothers, the trees. You
are at home. Then King Amor opened his eyes, and
when he saw the stars in the blue darkness above him,
he smiled, And though he was not yet a whole
day old, he threw up his small hand, and it

(04:02):
touched his forehead, like a king and a soldier. He
salutes them, said the ancient one, though he does not
know he did it. The castle was huge and splendid,
though it had been deserted for a hundred years. For
three generations. The royal owners had not cared to look
out on the world from high places. They knew nothing

(04:25):
of the wind and the trees and the stars. They
lived on the plains in their cities, and hunted and rioted,
and levied heavy taxes on their wretched people. And the
castle had lived through its summers and winters alone. It
had battlements and towers which stood out clear against the sky,
and there was a great banquet hall, and chambers for

(04:46):
hundreds of guests, and rooms for a thousand men at arms,
and the courtyard was big enough to hold a tournament
in in the midst of its space and splendor. The
little king Amor lived alone but for the companionship of
the a and a servant as old as himself. But
they knew a secret which had kept them young in

(05:06):
spite of the years they had passed through. They knew
that they were the brothers of all things in the world,
and that the man who never knows an angered or
evil thought can never know a foe. They were strong
and straight and wise, and the wildest creature stopped to
give them greeting as it passed, and they understood its

(05:27):
language when it spoke. Because they held no dark thoughts
in their minds, they knew no fear, And because they
knew no fear, the wild creatures knew none, and the
speech of each was clear to the other. Each morning
they went out on the battlements at dawn to see
the splendid sun rise slowly out of the purple sea.

(05:48):
One of the very first things the child Amor remembered
in his life, and he remembered it always was a
dawning day when the ancient One waked him gently, and
folding him in his long ray robe, carried him up
the winding and narrow stone stairway, until at last they
stepped forth on the top of the huge castle, which
seemed to the little creature to be so high that

(06:10):
it was quite close to the wonderful sky itself. The
sun is going to rise and wake the world, said
the ancient one. Young king watched the wonder of it.
Am Or lifted his little head and looked. He was
only just old enough to be beginning to understand things,
But he loved the ancient one and all he said

(06:32):
and did. Far below the mountain crag lay the sea
in the night. While it slept, it had looked dark
blue or violet, But now it was slowly changing its color.
The sky was changing too, It was growing paler and paler.
Next it grew faintly brighter, so did the sea. Then

(06:52):
a slight flush crept over land and water, and all
the small floating clouds were rosy pink. King am More
smiled because birds voices were to be heard in the
trees and bushes, And something gold and bright was rising
out of the edge of the ocean, and sparkling light
danced on the waves. It rose higher and higher and

(07:13):
grew so dazzling and wonderful that he threw out his
little hand with a shout of joy. The next moment
he started back, because there rose near him a loud
whir and feeding of powerful wings, as a great bird
flew out of a crag near by and soared high
into the radiant morning. Heavens, it is the eagle who
has our neighbor, said the ancient One. He has awakened

(07:36):
and gone to give his greeting to the sun. And
as the little king sat upright enraptured, he saw that
from the dazzling brightness at the edge of the world
there leaped forth a ball of living gold and fire.
And even he knew that the sun had risen at
every day's dawn. It leaps forth like that, said the

(07:56):
ancient One. Let us watch together, and I will tell
you stories of it. So they sat by the battlement
and the stories were told. They were stories of the
small grains lying hid in the dark earth, waiting for
the golden heat of the sun to draw them forth
into life, until they covered the tilled fields with waving

(08:17):
wheat to make bread for the world. They were stories
of the seeds of fair flowers warmed and ripened until
they burst into scented blossoms. They were stories of the
roots of trees and the rich sap drawn upward by
the heat until great branches and thick leafage waved in
the summer air. They were stories of men, women and

(08:39):
children walking with light step and glad because of the
gold of the sun. Every day it warms, every day
it draws, every day it ripens and gives life, and
there are many who forget the wonder of it. Lift
your head high as you walk, young king, and often
look upward, never forget the sun. At every dawning they

(09:01):
rose and saw together the wonder of the day. And
the first time the sky was heavy with gray clouds,
and the sun did not leap upward from behind the
edge of the world. The ancient one said another thing.
The burning gold is behind the lowering gray and purple.
The clouds are heavy with soft rain. When they break,

(09:22):
they will drop it in showers or splendid storms, and
the thirsty earth will drink it up. The grains will
drink it, and the seed and the roots and the
world will be joyous and rich with fresh life. The
springs will bubble up like crystal, and the brooks will
rush babbling through the green of the forest. The drinking
places for the cattle will be full and clear, and

(09:43):
men and women will feel rested and cool. Lift your
head high when you walk, young king, and often look upward.
Never forget the clouds. So hearing these things every day,
King Amore learn the meaning of both sun and clouds,
and loved and felt himself brother to both. The first

(10:04):
time he remembered seeing a storm, the ancient One took
him to the battlements again, and together they watched the
dark clouds pour down their floods, while their purple was
riven by the dazzling lances of the lightning. And the
thunder rolled and crashed and seemed to rend asunder things
no human eye could see. And the wind roared round
the castle on the mountain crag and beat against its towers,

(10:28):
and tossed the branches of the hugest trees, and whirled
the rain in sheets over the land. And King Amor
stood erect and strong like some little soldier, though he
wondered where the small birds were, and if the eagle
were in his nest. Through all the tumult, the ancient
ones stood still. He looked taller than ever in his

(10:48):
long gray robe, and his strange eyes were deep as
the sea. At last, he said, in a slow, calm voice,
this is the voice of power men know not. No
man has yet quite understood. Though it seems to speak.
Hearken to it. Let your soul stand silent. Listen, young king,

(11:10):
hold your head high as you walk, and often look upward,
never forget the storm. So the king learned to love
the storm and be one with it, knowing no fear.
But perhaps it might be because he had been laid
on the scented moss, and had, without knowing it, saluted them.
On the first night of his life. He fell nearest

(11:32):
to and loved most his brothers, the stars, every fair
knight through the king's earliest years, the ancient one carried
him to the battlements and let him fall asleep beneath
the shining myriads. But first he would walk about, bearing
him in his arms, or sit with him in the
splendid silence, sometimes relating wonders to him in a low voice,

(11:54):
sometimes uttering no word, only looking calmly into the high
vault above, as if the stars spoke to him and
told him of perfect peace. When a man looks long
at them, he said, he grows calm and forgets small things.
They answer his questions and show him that his earth
is only one of the million worlds. Hold your soul still,

(12:17):
and look upward often, and you will understand their speech.
Never forget the stars. Part two. So as the child
king grew day by day, the world seemed to grow
fuller and fuller of wonders and beauties. There were the

(12:37):
sun and the moon, the storm and the stars, the
straight falling lances of rain, the springing of the growing things,
the flight of the eagle, the songs and nests of
small bird creatures, the changing seasons, and the work of
the great brown earth, giving its harvests and its fruits.

(12:58):
All these wonders in one world, and you a man
upon it, said the ancient one. Hold high your head
when you walk, young King, and often look upward. Never
forget one marvel among them all. He forgot nothing. He
lived looking out on all things from great, clear, joyous

(13:20):
eyes upon his mountain Craig. He never heard of paltry
or unbeautiful word, or knew of the existence of unfriendliness
or baseness in thought. As soon as he was old
enough to go out alone, he roamed about the great mountain,
and feared neither storm nor wild beasts. Shaggy mane lions

(13:40):
and their mates drew near and fawnd on him, as
their kind had fawned on young Adam in the garden
of Eden. There had never passed through his mind the
thought that they were not his friends. He did not
know that there were men who killed their wild brothers.
In the huge courtyard of the castle, he learned to
ride and to perform great feats of strength. Because he

(14:03):
had not learned to be afraid, he never feared that
he could not do a thing. He grew so strong
and beautiful that when he was ten years old he
was as tall as a youth of sixteen, and when
he was sixteen he was already like a young giant.
This was because he had been brother to the storm,
and had lived close to the strength and splendor of

(14:25):
the stars. Only once, when he was a boy of twelve,
a strange and painful thing happened to him. From his
kingdom in the plains below. There had been sent to
him a beautiful young horse, which had been bred for him.
Never had so magnificent an animal been born in the
royal stable. When he was brought into the courtyard. The

(14:48):
boy King's eyes shone with joy. He spent the greater
part of the morning in exercising and leaping him over barriers.
The ancient One in his tower chamber heard his shouts
of excellation and encouragement. At last the king went out
to try him on the winding mountain road. When he returned,
he went at once to the tower chamber to the

(15:09):
ancient One, who, when he raised his eyes from his
great book, looked at him gravely. Let us climb to
the battlements. The boy said, we must talk together. So
they went, and when they stood, looking out on the
world below, the curving turquoise sky above them, the eyes
of the ancient One were still more grave. Tell me,

(15:33):
young King, something strange has happened. King Amor answered, I
have felt something I have not felt before. I was
riding my horse around the field on the plateau, and
he saw something which he refused to pass. It was
a young leopard watching us from a tree. My horse
reared and snorted. He would not listen to me, but

(15:53):
backed and wheeled around. I tried in vain to persuade him,
and suddenly, when I saw I could not make him
opait abe. This strange new feeling rushed through all my body.
I got hot, and I knew my face was scarlet.
My heart beat faster, and my blood seemed to boil
in my veins. I shouted out harsh, ugly sounds. I

(16:15):
forgot that all things are brothers. I lifted my hand
and clenched it, and struck my horse again and again.
I loved him no longer. I felt that he no
longer loved me. I am hot and wearied and heavy
from it. Still I feel no more joy. Was it pain?
I felt? I have never felt pain, and I do

(16:35):
not know was it pain? It was a worse thing,
answered the ancient one. It was anger. When a man
is overcome by anger, he has a poisoned fever. He
loses his strength, he loses his power over himself and
over others. He throws away time in which he might
have gained the end he most desires. There is no

(16:59):
time for anger in the world. So King Amory learned
the uselessness of anger. For they sat long upon the battlements,
while the ancient One told him how its poison worked
in the veins and weakened the strongest man, until he
mismade a fool. That night, Amor lay under the sky,
looking at his myriad brothers, the stars, and drawing calm

(17:21):
from them. If you lie through the night upon the
battlements and think only of the stillness and the stars,
you will forget your anger, and its poison will die away.
If you put into your mind a beautiful thought, it
will take the place of the evil one. There is
no room for darkness in the mind of he who
thinks only of the stars. This had been said to

(17:45):
him by the Ancient One. Upon the plateau at the
foot of the crag on which the castle stood, there
were marvelous walled gardens. The sad young queen of the
first King, Mordrath, had planted them, and after her death
they had been left to run wild. Since the baby
king Amor had been brought to the mountain top. The
ancient One and his servitor had made them bloom again.

(18:08):
As soon as he was old enough to hold a
small spade, Amor had worked in the beds, all things
grew for him, as if his touch were a spell.
Birds and bees and butterflies flocked round him as he labored.
He knew what the bees hummed, and where they flew
to load themselves with honey. Butterflies lighted upon his hands

(18:30):
and taught him strange things. Birds told him of their travels,
and brought him seeds from far countries, which he planted
in his gardens, and which bloomed into marvelous flowers. A swallow,
who loved him very much, and who had seen many
wonderful lands, once brought him a seed from an emperor's
secret garden, which none but four of his own slaves

(18:52):
had ever seen. These slaves had been born in the
garden and would never leave it while they lived. King
Amor planted the seed in a pleasuence of its own.
It grew into the most beautiful blue flower the world
had ever known. It was of a blue so pure
and exquisitely intense that it was a rapture to look

(19:12):
at it. Its blossoms hung from a tall stem, and
in its first year it gave a thousand seeds. Each year,
Amor planted more flowers, and each year they grew taller
and more wonderful, and blossomed a longer time. When the
summer wind blew, it shook out clouds of delicate fragrance,
which sometimes floated down the mountain, until the wretched dwellers

(19:35):
in King Mordred's land forgot their quarrels and misery, and
even lifted their heavy heads to inhale it and ask
each other what was being done upon the mountain. Each year,
King Amor gathered the seeds and stored them in an
unused tower of his castle. Taller and stronger he grew,
and each day wiser and more beautiful. Each plant, each weed,

(19:58):
each four footed thing, each wind, each star of heaven
taught him its wonders and its wisdom. His eyes were
so marvelous in their straight glance splendor, that when he
looked at a man, they seemed to read his soul
and command its truth to answer him. He was so
powerful that he could break an iron bar in two

(20:19):
pieces with his hands. When he was twenty years old,
the ancient One took him up on the battlements, and
giving him a strong glass, told him to look down
upon the capital city on the plain and see what
was being done there. I see many people gathered in crowds,
Amor said, when he had looked for a few moments,

(20:39):
I see bright colors and waving pennants, and triumphal arches.
It is as if some great ceremony were being prepared for.
The people are making ready for your coronation, said the
ancient one. Tomorrow you will be led in state down
the mountain and acclaimed king. It was to fit you
to reign over your king that I taught you to

(21:01):
know all the wonders of the world, and have shown
you that no thing is useless but folly and dishonoring thought,
that which you have learned from your brothers. Here you
go down the mountain to teach your brothers. There you
will see things which are not beautiful, and those which
are unclean. But hold your head high when you walk,
young King, and never forget the sun, the wind, and

(21:23):
the stars. To himself, as he looked on, the ancient
One said, when he stands before them, they will think
he is a young god. The next morning, a splendid
procession wound its glittering way up the mountain road to
the castle. There were princes and nobles and chieftains. Rich
colors glowed in their attire, and gorgeous banners and pennants

(21:46):
waved over them, while music from gold and silver trumpets
accompanied them as they rode, and their many followers marched behind.
The Ancient One, in his long robe of gray, stood
by King Amor on the broad stone terrace, guarded by
its crouching carved lions. This is your king, o people,

(22:07):
he said, And when the people looked, it was as
he said it would be. They drew back a little
and gazed in fear, and many of the followers fell
upon their knees. They thought they saw a beautiful young
giant and god. But he was only a splendid and
powerful young man who had never known a dark thought,
and had lived near to his brothers the stars. His horse,

(22:31):
adorned with golden trappings, was broad, and he was led
down the mountain side through the gates into the capital
city of his kingdom. He desired that the Ancient One
should ride by his side. What he saw as he
rode to the place of coronation he had never seen before.
Notwithstanding the embroidered silk and velvet hangings decorating the fronts

(22:53):
of the rich people's houses, He caught glimpses of filthy
side streets, squalid alleys, and humble down tenements. He saw
forlorn little children scud away like rats into their holes.
As he drew near and wretched, vicious looking men and
women fighting with each other for places in the crowd.
Sharp miserable faces peered round corners at him, and nobody smiled,

(23:17):
because everyone hated or distrusted his neighbor. And they dreaded
and disliked the young king because all the king Mordraths
had been evil and selfish, and he was their descendant.
When they saw that he was so tall and powerful,
and carried his handsome head so high, often looking upward,
they feared him still more. As their own heads hung down.

(23:39):
They never saw anything but the dirt and dust beneath
their feet, or their quarrels about them. So their minds
were full of fears and ugly thoughts, and they at
once began to be afraid of him and suspect him
of being proud. He could do twice as much evil
as the other kings, they said, since he was twice
as strong and twice as handsome. It was their nature

(24:00):
to first think an evil thought of anything or anybody,
and to be afraid of all things. At the outset,
the princes and nobles who rode in the procession tried
to prevent King Amor seeing the wretched looking people and
ill kept streets. They pointed out the palaces and decorations
and beautiful ladies, throwing flowers in his path from the balconies.

(24:22):
He praised all the splendors and saluted the balconies, looking
up with such radiant and smiling eyes that the ladies
almost threw themselves after their flowers, and cried out that never,
never had there been crowns such a beautiful young king before.
Do not look at the rabble, your majesty, the Prime
minister said. They are an evil, ill tempered lot of worthless,

(24:43):
malcontents and thieves. I would not look at them, answered
King Amor, if I knew that I could not help them.
There is no time to look at dark things if
one cannot make them brighter. I look at these because
there is something to be done. I do not yet
know what. There is such hatred in their eyes that
they will only make you angry, Sire, said a handsome

(25:04):
young prince he rode near. There is no time for anger,
said Amor, holding his crowned head high. It is a
worthless thing. After sunset, there was a great banquet, and
after it a great ball, and the courtiers and princes
were delighted by the beauty and grace of the new king.
He was much brighter and more charming than any of

(25:24):
the king Mordreths had been. His laugh was full of gayety,
and the people who stood near him felt happier, though
they did not know why. But when the ball was
at its height, he stepped into the center of the
room and spoke aloud to this splendid company. I have
seen the broad streets and the palaces, and all that
is beautiful in my capital, he said. Now I must

(25:46):
go to the narrow streets and the dark ones. I
must see the miserable people, the cripples, the wretched ones,
the drunkards, and the thieves. Everyone clamored and protested these
things they had hidden from him, said, King should not
see them. I will see them, he said, with a
smile which was beautiful and strange. I go now on

(26:08):
foot and unattended except for my friend, the Ancient One.
Let the ball go on. He strode through the glittering throng,
with the gray clad Ancient One at his side. He
still wore his crown upon his head, because he wished
his people to know that their king had come to them.
Through dark and loathsome places. They went through narrow streets

(26:29):
and back alleys and courts, where people scurried away like rats,
as the gutter children had done in the daytime. King
Amor could not have seen them, but that he had
brought with him a bright lantern and held it up
in the air above his high head. The light shining
upon his beautiful face and his crown made him look
more than ever like a young god and giant. And

(26:51):
the people cowered terrified before him, asking each other what
such a king would do to wretches like themselves. But
just a few very little chi children smiled at him
because he was so young and bright and splendid. No
one in the black holes and corners could understand why
a king should come walking among them on the night

(27:11):
of his coronation day. Most of them thought that the
next morning he would order them all to be killed
and their houses burned, because he would only think of
them as vermin. Once, as he passed through a dark court,
a madman darted out on his path, shaking his fist.
We hate you, he cried out, We hate you. The

(27:32):
dwellers in the court gasped with terror, wondering what would happen.
But the tall, young king stood, holding his lantern above
his head and gazing at the madmen with deep thought
in his eyes. There is no time for hatred in
the world, he said, There is no time, and then
he passed on. The look of deep thought was in

(27:53):
his face throughout the hours in which he strode on,
until he had seen all he had come to see.
The next day he rode back up the mountain to
his castle on the crag, and when the night fell,
he lay out upon the battlements under the sky, as
he had done on so many nights. The soft wind
blew about him as he looked up at the stars.

(28:14):
I do not know, my brothers, he said to them,
tell me, And he lay silent until the great, sweet
stillness of the night seemed to fill his soul, and
when the stars began to fade, he slept in a
rapturous peace. The people in his kingdom on the plain waited,
wondering what he would do. During the next few days,

(28:36):
they quarreled and hated each other more than ever, the
rich ones because they all wanted to gain his favor,
and each was jealous of the other, the poor ones
because they were afraid of him, and each man feared
that his neighbor would betray the things he had done
in the past. Only two boys working together in a field,
having stopped to wrangle and fight, one of them suddenly

(29:00):
stood still, remembering something, and said, a strange thing in
a strange voice, there is no time for anger. There
is no time. And as he fell to work again,
his companion did the same. And when they had finished
their task of weeding, they talked about the thing, and
remembered that when they had quarreled the day before, they

(29:20):
had not finished their task at all, and had not
been paid, and had gone home sore from the blows
they had given each other, and had had no supper. No,
there is no time, they decided. At the beginning of
the following week, there were rumors that a strange law
had been made, the strangest ever known in the world.
It was something about a blue flower. What had flowers

(29:42):
to do with laws? Or what had laws to do
with flowers? People quarreled about what the meaning of such
a law might be. Those who thought first of evil
things and fears began to say that in rich people's
gardens was to be planted a blue flower whose perfume
would poison all the poor. The only ones who did

(30:03):
not quarrel were the two boys and their friends, who
had already begun to make a sort of password of
there is no time for anger. One of them, who
was clever, added a new idea to the saying, there
is no time for fear. He cried out in the field.
Let us go on with our work, and they finished
their task early and played games at last. One morning

(30:25):
it was made known that the new king was to
give a feast in the open air to all the people.
It was to be on the plane outside the city,
and he himself was going to proclaim to them the
law of the blue flower. Now we shall know the
worst groveled and shivered the afraid ones as they shuffled
their way to the plane, and the boys who used

(30:46):
the password heard them. There is no time to think
of the worst, shouted the clever one at the top
of his voice. There is no time. We shall be
late for the feast, And a number of people actually
turned to listen because there was a high, strong, gay
sound in his voice such as had never been heard
in King Mordrath's land. Before the plain was covered in

(31:08):
thick green grass, and beautiful spreading trees grew on it.
There was a richly draped platform for King Amo's gold
and ivory chair. But when the people gathered about, he
stood up before them, a beautiful young giant, with eyes
like fixed stars, and head held high, and he read
his law in a voice which wonderful to relate. Was

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heard by every man, woman and child, even by the
little cripple, crouching alone in the grass, on the very
outskirts of the crowd, and not expecting to hear or
see anything. This is what he read in my pleasuence.
On the mountain top there grows a blue flower. One
of my brothers, the birds brought me at seed from

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an emperor's hidden garden. It is as beautiful as the
sky at dawn. It has a strange power. It dispels evil, fortune,
and the dark thoughts which bring it. There is no
time for dark thoughts, There is no time for evil.
Listen to my law. Tomorrow. Seeds will be given to
every man, woman and child in my kingdom, even to

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the newborn. Every man, woman and child, even the newborn,
is commanded by the law to plant and feed and
watch over the blue flower. It is the work of
each to make it grow. The mother of the newborn
can hold its little hand and make it drop the
seeds into the earth. As the child grows, she must

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show it the green shoots when they pierce the brown soil.
She must babble to it of its blue flower. By
the time it is pleased by color, it will love
the blossoms, and the spell of happiness and good fortune
will begin to work for it. It is not one
person here and there who must plant the flower, but
each and every one, to those who have not land

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about them. All land is free. You may plant by
the roadside, in a cranny of a wall, in an
old box or glass or tub, in any bare space
in any man's field or garden. But each must plant
his seeds and watch over and feed them. Next year,
when the blue flower blossoms, I shall ride through my

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kingdom and bestow my rewards. This is my law. What
will befall if some of us do not make them grow?
Groaned some of the affrayed ones. There is no time
to think of that, shouted the boy who was clever
plant them. When the prime minister and his followers told
the king that larger and stronger prisons must be built

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for the many criminals, and that heavier taxes must be
laid upon the people to rescue the country from poverty.
His answer to them was wait until the blooming of
the blue flower. In a short time, everyone was working
in the open air, digging in the soil. Tiny children,
as well as men and women, drunkards and thieves and

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idlers who had never worked before, came out of their
dark holes and corners into the light of the sun.
It was not a hard thing to plant a few
flower seeds. And because the King Amor looked so much
more powerful than other men and had eyes so wonderful
and commanding, they did not know what punishment he would
invent for them, and were afraid to disobey him. But somehow,

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after they had worked in the sweet scented earth for
a while and had seen others working, the light of
the sun and the freshness of the air made them
feel in better humor. The wind blew away their evil
fancies and their headaches. And because there was so much
talk and wondering about the magic of the blue flower,
they became interested and wanted to see what it would

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do for them. When it blossomed scarcely any of them
had ever tried to make a flower grow before, and
they gradually thought of it a great deal. There was
less quarreling, because conversation with neighbors all about a blue
flower gave no reason for hard work. Words. The worst
and idolist were curious about it, and everyone tried experiments

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of his own. The children were delighted and actually grew
happy and rosy over their digging and watering and caretaking. Gradually,
all sorts of curious things happened. People who were growing
blue flowers began to keep the ground around them in order.
They did not like to see bits of paper and
rubbish lying about, so they cleared them away. One quite

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new thing which occurred was that sometimes people even helped
each other a little cripples, and those who were weak
actually found that there were stronger ones who would do
things for them when their backs ached and it was
hard to carry water or dig up weeds. No one
in King Mordred's land had ever helped another before. The
boy who was clever did more than all the rest.

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He gathered together all the children he could and formed
them into a band using the passwords. In time, it
became quite like a little army. They called themselves the
band of the Blue Flower, and each boy and girl
was bound to remember the passwords and apply them to all.
They did so. Often, when a number of people were
together and things began to go wrong, a clear, young

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voice would cry out somewhere, like a silver battle cry,
there is no time for anger, or there is no
time for hate, or there is no time to fret.
There is no time among the great and rich people. Also,
singular things came to pass. Those who had wasted their

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days loitering or rioting were obliged to get up in
the morning to work in their gardens, and, finding that
exercise and fresh air improved their health and spirits, they
began to like it. Court ladies found it good for
their complexions and tempers. Busy merchants discovered that it made
their heads clearer. Ambitious students found that after an hour

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spent evening and morning over their blue flower beds, they
could study twice as long without fatigue. The children of
the princes and nobles became so full of work and
talk of their soil and their seeds, that they quite
forgot to squabble and be jealous of each other's importance
at court. Never in one story could it be told

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how many unusual, interesting and wonderful things occurred in the
once gloomy King Mordreth's land, just because every person in it,
rich and poor, old and young, good and bad, had
to plant and care for and live every day of
life with a blue flower. Oh the corners and crannies
and queer places it was planted in, And Oh the

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thrill of enjoyment everywhere when the first tender green shoots
thrust their way through the earth, And the wave of
excitement which passed over the whole land when the first
buds showed themselves. By that time everyone was so interested
that even the afraid ones had forgotten to ask each
other what King Amor would do to them if they
had no blue flower. Somehow people had gained courage, and

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they knew the blue flower would grow, and they knew
there was no time to stop working while they worried
and said, suppose it didn't There was no time. Sometimes
the young king was on the mountain top with the
wind and the eagle and the stars, and sometimes he
was in his place in the city, but he was
always working and thinking for his people. He was not

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seen by the people, however, until his splendid summer day came,
when it was proclaimed by heralds in the streets that
he would begin his journey through the land by riding
through the capital city to see the blossoming of the
blue flowers, and there would be a feast once more
upon the plain. It was a wonderful day. The air

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was full of golden light, and the sky of such
a blueness as had never been seen before. Out of
the palace gates he rode, and he wore his crown,
and his eyes were more brilliant than the jewels in it,
and his smile was more radiant than a sunrise as
he looked about him, For every breath he drew in
was fragrant, every ugly place was hidden, and every squalid

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corner filled with beauty. For it seemed as if the
whole world were waving with blue flowers. Tumble down houses
and fences were covered with them, because some of them
climbed like vines. Neglected fields and gardens had been made
neat so that they would grow. Rubbish and dirt had
been cleaned away to make room for clumps and patches

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of them. You could not grow the blue flower among
dirt and disorder, any more than you could grow it
while you were spending your time in drinking and quarreling.
By the roadsides in courts, in windows, in cracks, in walls,
in broken places and roofs, in great people's gardens, on
the window sills, or about the doorways of poor people's hovels.

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Fair and fragrant and waving grew the blue flower. Where
it waved. There was no room for dirt and rubbish.
And suddenly even the dullest people began to see that
the face of the whole land was changed, as if
by some strange magic, and the whole population seemed changed
with it. Everybody looked fresher and more cheerful. People had

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actually learned to smile and to keep themselves clean, and
there was not one who was not healthier. They had
in fact been noticing this for some time, and they
had said to each other that the power of the
blue flower of which the king had spoken was beginning
to work. The children had grown gay and rosy, and
the boy who was clever and all his companions had

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found time to earn themselves new clothes because they had
never forgotten their passwords. All the farmers wanted them to
work in their fields, because they said there was no
time to idle, no time to fight, no time to
play evil tricks. On the king road, and on and
on and on, and the farther he went, the more

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splendid and joyous grew his smile. But at no time
during the day was it more beautiful than when he
met the little cripple, who had sat on the outside
of the crowd on the first feast day, not expecting
to see or hear anything. The cripple lived in a
tiny hovel on the edge of the city, And when
the glittering procession drew near it, the small patch of

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garden was quite bare and had not a blue flower
in it, And the little cripple was sitting huddled upon
his broken doorstep, sobbing softly, with his face hidden in
his arms. King Amor drew up his white horse and
looked at his bear garden. What has happened here, he said.
This garden has not been neglected, it has been dug

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and kept free of weeds. But my law has been broken.
There is no blue flower. Then the little cripple got up, trembling,
and hobbled through his rickety gait, and threw himself down
upon the earth before the king's white horse, sobbing hopelessly
and heart brokenly. O King, he cried, I am only
a cripple and small, and I can easily be killed.

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I have no flower at all. When I opened my
package of seeds, I was so glad that I forgot.
The wind was blowing, and suddenly a great guest carried
them all the way forever, and I had not even
one left. I was afraid to tell anybody. And then
he cried so that he could not speak. Go On,
said the young king gently, What did you do? I

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could do nothing, said the little cripple. Only I made
my garden meat and kept away the weeds. And sometimes
I asked other people to let me dig a little
for them. And always when I went out, I picked
up the ugly things I saw lying about, the bits
of paper and rubbish, and I dug holes for them
in the earth. But I have broken your law. Then

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the people gasped for breath. For King Amore dismounted from
his horse and lifted the little cripple up in his
arms and held him against his breast. You shall ride
with me to day he said, and go to my
castle on the mountain Craig, and live near the stars
and the sun. When you kept the weeds from your
bare little garden, and when you dug for others and

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hid away ugliness and disorder, you planted a blue flower.
Every day. You have planted more than all the rest,
And your reward shall be the sweetest, for you planted
without the seeds. And then the people shouted until the
world seemed to ring with their joy. And somehow they
knew that King Mordreth's land had come into fair days.

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And they thought it was the blue flower magic. But
the earth is full of magic, Amor said to the
ancient one, after the feast on the plain was over.
Most men know nothing of it, and so comes misery.
The first law of the earth's magic is this one.
If you fill your mind with a beautiful thought, there
will be no room in it for an ugly one.

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This I learned from you and from my brothers the stars.
So I gave my people the blue flower to think
of and work for. It led them to see beauty
and to work happily, and filled the land with bloom.
I their king and their brother, And soon they will
understand this, and I can help them, and all will
be well. They shall be wise and joyous, and no

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good fortune. The little cripple lived near the sun and
the stars in the castle on the mountain crag until
he grew strong and straight. Then he was the king's
chief gardener. The boy who was clever was made captain
of his band, which became the king's own guard, and
never left him. And the gloom of King Mordred's land

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was forgotten, because it was known all throughout the world
as the land of the blue Flower. End of the
Land of the Blue Flower by Francis Hodgson Burnett