entirely forgot how beautiful everything around it was, how warmly the sun
was shining, and how splendidly white its own petals were. It could only
think of the poor captive bird, for which it could do nothing. Then two little
boys came out of the garden; one of them had a large sharp knife, like that
with which the girl had cut the tulips. They came straight towards the little
daisy, which could not understand what they wanted.
“Here is a fine piece of turf for the lark,” said one of the boys, and began
to cut out a square round the daisy, so that it remained in the centre of the
grass.
“Pluck the flower off” said the other boy, and the daisy trembled for fear,
for to be pulled off meant death to it; and it wished so much to live, as it
was to go with the square of turf into the poor captive lark’s cage.
“No let it stay,” said the other boy, “it looks so pretty.”
And so it stayed, and was brought into the lark’s cage. The poor bird was
lamenting its lost liberty, and beating its wings against the wires; and the
little daisy could not speak or utter a consoling word, much as it would have
liked to do so. So the forenoon passed.
“I have no water,” said the captive lark, “they have all gone out, and
forgotten to give me anything to drink. My throat is dry and burning. I feel
as if I had fire and ice within me, and the air is so oppressive. Alas! I must
die, and part with the warm sunshine, the fresh green meadows, and all the
beauty that God has created.” And it thrust its beak into the piece of grass,
to refresh itself a little. Then it noticed the little daisy, and nodded to it, and
kissed it with its beak and said: “You must also fade in here, poor little
flower. You and the piece of grass are all they have given me in exchange
for the whole world, which I enjoyed outside. Each little blade of grass shall
be a green tree for me, each of your white petals a fragrant flower. Alas!
you only remind me of what I have lost.”
“I wish I could console the poor lark,” thought the daisy. It could not
move one of its leaves, but the fragrance of its delicate petals streamed
forth, and was much stronger than such flowers usually have: the bird
