(1869)
Belonging to the lordly manor-house was beautiful, well-kept garden,
with rare trees and flowers; the guests of the proprietor declared their
admiration of it; the people of the neighborhood, from town and country,
came on Sundays and holidays, and asked permission to see the garden;
indeed, whole schools used to pay visits to it.
Outside the garden, by the palings at the road-side, stood a great mighty
Thistle, which spread out in many directions from the root, so that it might
have been called a thistle bush. Nobody looked at it, except the old Ass
which drew the milk-maid’s cart. This Ass used to stretch out his neck
towards the Thistle, and say, “You are beautiful; I should like to eat you!”
But his halter was not long enough to let him reach it and eat it.
There was great company at the manor-house-some very noble people
from the capital; young pretty girls, and among them a young lady who
came from a long distance. She had come from Scotland, and was of high
birth, and was rich in land and in gold-a bride worth winning, said more
than one of the young gentlemen; and their lady mothers said the same
thing.
The young people amused themselves on the lawn, and played at ball;
they wandered among the flowers, and each of the young girls broke off a
flower, and fastened it in a young gentleman’s buttonhole. But the young
Scotch lady looked round, for a long time, in an undecided way. None of
the flowers seemed to suit her taste. Then her eye glanced across the paling-
outside stood the great thistle bush, with the reddish-blue, sturdy flowers;
she saw them, she smiled, and asked the son of the house to pluck one for
her.
