Carnations

This carnation is in its stunning blossom.

Mum was talking about removing some old books from the house.
I remember there are boxes and boxes of books of folklore and fairy-tale that I used to read over and over again in my youth.
One of the folktales is about the origin of carnations.

Long time ago (what a fairytale opening!), in the heavens lived a goddess and a lot of fairy girls.
It happened in a year that the fairy girls agreed that each of them would create a new species of flower to be dedicated to the goddess on her birthday.

All the fairies, young and mature, spent loads of time preparing their floral presents, except for one little fairy girl. She was probably only 10 years old and was still too naughty to remember important things. She totally forgot this mission and did not remember it until the last minute. Having been having fun in the wild for the entire day, she did not have any material available to her at the moment. She was crying over her carelessness and worried what she could do instead. She was hopeless, everyone thought so.

Crying hard, she used her dirty skirt to wipe tears from her face.
Suddenly, the torn edges of the skirt gave her an inspiration.
She smiled and had an idea about the present.

She made a flower out of the ragged skirt.
It was a brilliant idea!

This new flower is carnation, from a naughty girl's skirt.