It was a human foot which walked along over the ground, and pressed the downy seed into the earth. When the foot was withdrawn, the earth fell, and filled the little pit it had made.
The cold came, and the snow fell several feet deep; but the seed lay quietly down there, waiting for warmth and light. When the spring came, and the snow melted away, the plant shot up out of the earth.
There was a little gray cottage beside which it grew up. The tiny plant could not see very far around, because rubbish and brush-heaps lay near it, and the little window was so gray and dusty that it could not peep into the cottage either.
"Who lives here?" asked the little thing.
"Don"t you know that?" asked the ragged shoe, which lay near. "Why, the smith who drinks so much lives here, and his wife who wore me out."
And then she told how it looked inside, how life went on there, and it was not cheering; no, but fearfully sad. The shoe knew it all well, and told a whole lot in a few minutes, because she had such a well-hung tongue.
Now there came a pair of ragged children, running--the smith"s boy and girl; he was six years old and the girl eight, so the shoe said, after they were gone.
"Oh, see, what a pretty little plant!" said the girl. "So now, I shall pull it up," said the boy, and the plant trembled to the root"s heart.
"No, do not do it!" said the girl. "We must let it grow. Do you not see what pretty crinkly leaves it has? It will have lovely flowers, I know, when it grows bigger."
And it was allowed to stay there. The children took a stick and dug up the earth round about, so it looked like a plowed field. Then they threw the shoe and the sweepings a little way off, because they thought to make the place look better.
"You cannot think," said the shoe, after the children had gone, "you cannot think how in the way folks are!"
"The children have to give themselves airs, and pretend to be very orderly," said the half of a coffee-cup; and she broke in another place she was so disturbed.
But the sun shone warmly and the rain filtered down in the upturned earth. Then leaf after leaf unfolded, and in a few days the plant was several inches high.
"Oh, see!" said the children, who came again; "see how beautiful it is getting!"
"Come, father, come! brother and I have discovered such a pretty plant!
Come and see it!" begged the girl.
The father glanced at it. The plant looked so lovely on the little rough bit of soil which lay between the piles of sweepings.
The smith nodded to the children.
"It looks very disorderly here," he said to himself, and stopped an instant. "Yes, indeed, it does!" He went along, but thought of the little green spot, with the lovely plant in the midst of it.
II.
pet" als in" mates scrubbed fra" grant
The children ran into the house.
"Mother," said they, "there is such a rare plant growing right by the window!"
The mother wished to glance out, but the window was so thick with dust that she could not do so. She wiped off a little spot.
"My! My!" said she, when she noticed how dirty the window looked beside the cleaned spot; so she wiped the whole window.
"That is an odd plant," said she, looking at it. "But how dreadfully dirty it is out in the yard!"
Now that the sun shone in through the window it became very light in the cottage. The mother looked at the ragged children and at the rubbish in the room, and the blood rushed over her pale cheeks.
"It is a perfect shame!" she murmured. "I have never noticed that it was so untidy here."
She hurried around, and set the room to rights, and, when that was done, she washed the dirty floor. She scrubbed it so hard that her hands smarted as if she had burned them in the fire; she did not stop until every spot was white.
It was evening; the husband came home from work. The wife sat mending the girl"s ragged dress. The man stopped in the door. It looked so strange to him within, and the look his wife gave him was brighter than ever before, he thought.
"Go--G.o.d"s peace!" he stammered. It was a long time since such a greeting had been heard in here.
"G.o.d"s peace!" answered she; "wel--welcome home!" She had not said this for many years.
The smith stepped forward to the window; on the bed beside it the two children lay sleeping. He looked at them, then he looked out on the mound where the little plant stood. After a few minutes he went out.
A deep sigh rose from the woman"s breast. She had hoped that he would stay home that evening. Two great tears fell on the little dress.
In a few minutes she heard a noise outside. She went to the window to see what it could be. Her husband had not gone away! He was out in the yard clearing up the brush-heaps and rubbish.
She became more happy than she had been for a long time. He glanced in through the window and saw her. Then she nodded, he nodded back, and they both smiled.
"Be careful, above all, of the little plant!" said she.
Warm and sunny days came. The smith stayed at home now every evening. It was green and lovely round the little cottage, and outside the window there was a whole flower-bed, with many blossoms; but in the midst stood the little plant the autumn wind had brought thither.
The smith"s family stood around the flower-bed, and talked about the flowers.
"But the plant that brother and I found is the most beautiful of all,"
said the girl.
"Yes, indeed it is," said the parents.
The smith bent down and took one of the leaves in his hand, but very carefully, because he was afraid he might hurt it with his thick, coa.r.s.e fingers.
Then a bell was heard ringing in the distance. The sound floated out over field and lake, and rang so peacefully in the eventide, just as the sun sank behind the tree-tops in the forest. And every one bowed the head, because it was Sat.u.r.day evening, and it was a sacred voice that sounded.
In a little while all was silent in the cottage; the inmates slumbered, more tired, perhaps, than before, after the week"s toils, but also much, much happier. And round about, all was calm and peaceful.
But when Sunday"s sun came up, the plant opened its bud,--and it bore but a single one. When the cottage folks pa.s.sed the little flower-garden, they all stopped and looked at the beautiful, fragrant blossom.