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How The Buttercup Grew Yellow

Military Handbooks: Infantry Drill Regulations United States Army 1911

Long, long ago it is told that the flowers were all white and that each

received its color by some magic power.



The little Daisy, with its yellow eye, received its golden center when

the angry elves pelted the little Fairies with sunbeams.



The Daisy grew to be very proud of her yellow eye and thought it showed

off to perfection her pure white rim. One day she was looking about

the field whe
e she grew and saw the little White Cups growing all

about her in abundance.



"There is too much white in this field," she told the other Daisies.

"Our beautiful white borders would show off much better if the White

Cups were golden."



"But perhaps the White Cups do not wish to become golden," said her

sisters.



"Oh, but we do, dear Daisies," said the White Cups all in chorus; "we

have always wanted to be a beautiful yellow like your eyes, but we

thought you would not like to have us that color, as we have to live in

the same field."



"Oh yes, we would," said the Daisy, "and I am sure the fields will look

much more beautiful with you a golden color than white; besides that,

we shall be seen to better advantage; so both of us will gain by the

change."



"But who will help us to change our color?" asked the White Cups.



The daisy thought a long time, and at length she said: "You might get

the Goblins to color you, but the thing is to get them to do it. They

are such queer little fellows that if they thought they were bothering

the Fairies they would do it quick enough; but if we ask them to make

you yellow that we all may look more beautiful they would only laugh

and run off."



"Why can't we make them think they would make the Fairies angry if they

made us golden?" asked the White Cups; "I am sure we can find a way."



"That would be the very thing," said the Daisy, "but what do you

propose to do?"



"We will ask the Fairies when they come into the fields to-night for

their frolic," said the White Cups.



That night when the Fairies came flying over the field the White Cups

called to them and told them what they wanted.



"Oh, that will be beautiful," said the Fairy Queen, "and we can fool

the Goblins easy enough, as you shall see."



The Fairy Queen called her Fairies around her and whispered so low that

the field flowers could not hear what she said, but they heard the

Fairies laugh as they flew away, and each alighted on a little White

Cup and began to sing.



"We love you, little White Cup, Our Lady of the Field;

We will watch o'er you and keep you and from all danger shield;

You are prettier than the Daisy with her yellow eye so bright,

You are like a waxen blossom in the pale moonlight."





Over and over they sang the verse as they leaned over and kissed the

little Cups, and by and by from out of the woods came the Goblins,

hopping and jumping like leaves before the wind.



"Here they are," they said, when they saw the Fairies. "Listen and

hear what they are singing."



When they heard the Fairies' pretty love song to the little White Cup

the Goblins kicked up their heels and laughed, each laying a tiny

finger beside his nose as he winked at his brother.



Off they scampered to the woods again, and the Fairies kept on singing

their song, while the Daisy watched with its yellow eye, wondering how

her cousin, the White Cup, would be made the color for which she had

wished.



By and by the Goblins came back, but this time they carried bags over

their shoulders and they crept carefully through the grass.



The Fairies saw them all the time, but of course they pretended not to,

and when the Goblins were quite near the Queen said:



"Come, my children; leave your best-loved flower for to-night.

To-morrow you shall come again."



As they were flying away they glanced back, and in the moonlight they

saw the Goblins hard at work over each little White Cup.



When the morning sun awoke he opened wide his eyes, for all over the

field among the Daisies he beheld little Golden Cups nodding gaily at

their cousins with the golden eyes.



The next night when the Fairies came flying through the fields they saw

the Yellow Cups. "You are more beautiful than ever," they said to the

Golden Cups, "and we will call you our Golden Cups, but you must be

known as the Buttercups or the Goblins will discover our trick and make

you white again."



The Buttercups thanked the Fairies and told them they would be glad to

be their cups whenever they gave a banquet and that never would they

let the Goblins know the Fairies had fooled them.



So they bloom among the Daisies in the fields and are called

Buttercups, but they know to the Fairies they are the little Golden

Cups, and the Goblins wonder why the Fairies always seem so happy when

they fly near the Buttercup and find it changed.



The Fairies are too wise to let the Goblins know how they fooled them

and gained for the Buttercups the very color that they wanted, but it

is rather hard sometimes not to tell them when the little Goblins

scamper about and try to upset their plans.



The Fairy Queen has taught them that "Silence is golden," and they know

their Queen is always right.



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