he was always working and thinking for his people. He was not seen by
the people, however, until a splendid summer day came when it was
proclaimed by heralds in the streets that he would begin his journey
through the land by riding through the capital city to see the
blossoming of the Blue Flowers, and there would be a feast once more
upon the plain.

It was a wonderful day, the air was full of golden light and the sky of
such a blueness as never had been seen before. Out of the palace gates
he rode and he wore his crown, and his eyes were more brilliant than the
jewels in it, and his smile was more radiant than a sunrise as he looked
about him, for every breath he drew in was fragrant, every ugly place
was hidden, and every squalid corner filled with beauty, for it seemed
as if the whole world were waving with Blue Flowers. Tumble-down houses
and fences were covered with them because some of them climbed like
vines; neglected fields and gardens had been made neat so that they
would grow; rubbish and dirt had been cleaned away to make room for
clumps and patches of them. You could not grow the Blue Flower among
dirt and disorder any more than you could grow it while you were
spending your time in drinking and quarreling. By the road sides, in
courts, in windows, in cracks, in walls, in broken places in roofs, in
great people's gardens, on the window sills, or about the doorways of
poor people's hovels--fair and fragrant and waving, grew the Blue
Flower. Where it waved there was no room for dirt and rubbish, and
suddenly even the dullest people began to see that the face of the whole
land was changed as if by some strange magic, and the whole population
seemed changed with it. Everybody looked fresher and more cheerful,
people had actually learned to smile and keep themselves clean, and
there was not one who was not healthier. They had, in fact, been
noticing this for some time, and they had said to each other that the