earth. As the child grows she must show it the green shoots when they
pierce the brown soil. She must babble to it of its Blue Flower. By the
time it is pleased by color it will love the blossoms, and the spell of
happiness and good fortune will begin to work for it. It is not one
person here and there who must plant the flower, but each and every one.
To those who have not land about them, all the land is free. You may
plant by the roadside, in a cranny of a wall, in an old box or glass or
tub, in any bare space in any man's field or garden. But each must plant
his seeds and watch over and feed them. Next year when the Blue Flower
blossoms I shall ride through my kingdom and bestow my rewards. This is
my Law."

"What will befall if some of us do not make them grow?" groaned some of
the Afraid Ones.

"There is no time to think of that!" shouted the boy who was clever.
"Plant them!"

When the Prime Minister and his followers told the King that larger and
stronger prisons must be built for the many criminals, and that heavier
taxes must be laid upon the people to rescue the country from poverty,
his answer to them was: "Wait until the blooming of the Blue Flower."

In a short time every one was working in the open air, digging in the
soil--tiny children as well as men and women. Drunkards and thieves and
idlers who had never worked before came out of their dark holes and
corners into the light of the sun. It was not a hard thing to plant a
few flower seeds, and because the King Amor looked so much more powerful
than other men, and had eyes so wonderful and commanding, they did not
know what punishment he would invent for them and were afraid to disobey