Sageflower and the King

A…tale, which may have its roots in a sun or season myth of pre-Christian time, represents the sage as a nymph living in a hollow oak beside a pool where jonquils sprang, dulling her shyer beauty. But she had no jealousy. She looked into the water mirror and saw her own face there, without pride, and she looked on the blossoms of the wood and loved them. Long she lived there in peace and happiness, and did not know the human face. But the silence of the wood was disturbed by a call of horns and baying of hounds, and the king rode that way, hunting. As he came to the foot of the oak, where Sageflower stood, her modest beauty charmed him. It was death for her to love a mortal, yet so deep was the affection which the sight of the young king stirred in her breast that she made no attempt to check it. He had only to tell her of his love to receive her confession. “The fine days are gone,” she said, “but solitude is still beautiful. Let us remain here alone together. It lightens my heart to be with you. You ask my love: I give you my life.” The king did not understand, and he folded her passionately in his arms. Sageflower returned his caress, but her arms relaxed, her head drooped. The king placed her on the bank and hurried to dip water from the pool to revive her. But the heat of love had been more than fragile Sageflower could endure. She faded out of life. And the king went away, mourning. Which is a poetic way of saying that the flower loves the sun and fades in the heat after fertilization.

From: Myths and Legends of Flowers, Trees, Fruits, and Plants, by Charles M. Skinner, c. 1911 by J.B. Lippincott Company