180 BHYOND THE BLUE MOUNTAINS.

Happy as Buttercup felt, his eyes filled with tears when he
mentioned Primrose’s name.

“And you would like to go too?” said Rose-Bloom, looking at
him affectionately.

“Yes; but I am happy here”; and he took Sweet-Content’s
hand in his own as he spoke.

“Go on, Rose-Bloom, darling, and tell us all about the Prince,”
said a pretty little boy called Sweetbriar.

Rose-Bloom began to speak at once. She had a clear high voice,
and Buttercup could understand every word she said.

“You must know, all of you,” she began, “that once a year the
Prince—the beautiful noble Prince from the country beyond the Blue
Mountains—comes to visit us; he only stays for one day, but that
day is the crowning day of the whole year. The Prince is to visit
Summer Land very soon now; he always allows us to send him word
beforehand what present we should like him to bring tous. Last time
he brought the flowers. You must know, Buttercup, that before last
year there were no flowers in Summer Land; it was a_ beautiful
country, with tall and noble trees and exquisite grass and ferns, and
many choice kinds of mosses. There were streams running between
the meadows, and there was everything to make our country the most
perfect in the world, but there was not a single flower.

“Some of the children who had come over from Winter Land had
seen flowers even growing there, and they missed them in Summer
Land, and so when the Prince was coming we sent him a message to
beg of him to bring us the flowers. He brought them a year ago.
‘They sprang up in one night, and covered the face of the earth. This
bower in which you are sitting was nothing but a rustic bower made
of wood, but on the morning of the Prince’s arrival it was covered
with forget-me-nots, and he was standing himself by the door to bid
us welcome. Oh, I shall never forget that day, that moment; never,
never !””

“And the year before—can you remember the year before, Rose-
Bloom ?” asked Sweetbriar. ‘Do you remember the gift the Prince
brought us the year before ? ”