The Anemone

　　It was winter with cold air and strong wind. A seed was still lying down in the bulb under the ground covered with snow. One day， it was raining， and the raindrops that soaked into the thick ground， touched the bulb and told stories of the world above the ground. Soon， the sunlight passed through， shone on the frozen ground and tickled the bulb

　　“Welcome.” A seed said. “I am not strong enough to open your door and walk in， but in summer， I can.” The sunlight said. “When does summer come？” Whenever the sunlight came down， the flower asked the same question， but summer was still too

　　far away. There was snow on the ground， and the well was frozen hard at night.

　　“Oh， how much longer do I have to wait？ I feel impatient. I want to go out. How glad I will be！” When the seed stretched in the bulb， the thin skin of the bulb was split. It was where the sunlight reached before. Green stems， a flower bud and leaves began to grow through the ground under the snow. There was still snow on the ground， but the flower could come out because the sunlight already passed through the ground.

　　“Welcome， come on！” The sunlight shouted. The bud stuck out her head of the ground covered with snow and saw the bright world. As the sunlight touched and kissed the bud， it started to open. It was a flower white as snow with thin green stripes. The flower lowered her head with a pleasant look and with modesty.

　　As soon as they saw the flower， the rays of sunlight said， “Oh， how beautiful you are！ You are so full of life and pure. You are the first flower. Soon， snow will melt away， and the cold wind will stop. When we have control here， the whole world will turn green. And you will find your friends soon.” It was such a big pleasure. The flower was so fragile and delicate that it seemed to be easy to break her down， but she was dazzlingly beautiful and kept singing for the coming summer.

　　But still it was far away from summer. The cloud hid the sun， and the strong wind blew hard. The cloud and the wind shouted to the flower. “You came out too early. We are still strong enough. It is not the right time to decorate yourself and walk around.” “You will be broken. You will be frozen and dried to death. You were deceived by the temptation of the sun and bloomed too early. You are such a fool of summer which bloomed in winter.”

　　It got colder， and there was not a single ray of sunlight in the dark sky even though many days had passed. She could freeze and die. But her faith that summer would come soon grew stronger and stronger. Even when cold snowflakes came down heavily， and ice-cold winds blew hard， she just lowered her head， and stood there in her white dress.

　　Then， children came out and shouted when they found the Anemone. “Wow， this is a fool of summer.” It is not strange what they said. ‘Anemone’ means ‘a fool of summer’ in Danish.

　　“She is so beautiful and elegant. This is the first flower of this year and also the only flower in this garden. “The children said. The Anemone was so happy that she did not even know that they had pulled her up. One girl picked up and kissed the flower. She brought it to her house and put it in a vase. Anemone had the illusion that summer came because the air was so fresh and warm.

　　There was a custom that young people used to give and take their poems with the first Anemone of the year. The girl‘s boyfriend was staying in a big city for his studying. Inside of the envelope it was as dark as inside of the bulb. The letter set out for the journey in a mail bag， and the Anemone got to the final destination in the end after several times of being squeezed and squashed.

　　The boy who received the letter was so happy， kissed the Anemone and put her in a drawer of his desk with the letter. There were many letters in the drawer， but only one letter had the Anemone. The Anemone was veut happy. She stayed in the drawer even after summer and long winter passed by.

　　When summer came again， the boy took out the letter again. This time， he crumpled it harshly and threw it away on the floor of his room. The Anemone fell down to the floor from the impact. That’s because the girl had another boyfriend. Even though the flower was dry and faded， she felt sad when she was treated that way.

　　The next morning， the sunlight came through the window and shone on the faded the ‘fool of summer’. Then， a maid came into the room and found the flower. She put it in one of the books in the desk. The flower stayed inside the book with poems again， but those poems were much greater and more valuable than before.

　　Many years passed， and the book sometimes was taken out from the bookcase and read by someone. It was the book of a famous Danish poet. One day， a man was reading the book and shouted. “Oh， is this an anemone， a fool of summer？ This poet was also a fool of summer who was ahead of his own age. Everybody used to laugh at him long ago， but he is the best poet of Denmark now. You look nice with this book！”

　　The Anemone was put in the book again. She was happy and proud of herself about how she was kept in that book of the poet. He was also a fool of summer who was standing firmly in the middle of cold winter dreaming summer just like the Anemone.

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