Why the Flower Died

Once there was a beautiful girl named Alice. She lived in the most beautiful palace that you would ever see. She loved to play in the flower garden, and the flowers loved her too. When she would enter the garden, the flowers would bow down to her majesty. She would bow down too. Everyday she would pick a flower for her mother's grave. She would only pick the most beautiful one for her mother. Then she would lay the flower on the grave and say a prayer. Some days it would rain and she couldn't go outside, so she would send a servant out to pick a flower and put it on her mother's grave. Alice would get frustrated when the servant would pick the wrong flower. She would end up running outside and throw that flower back to the other ones and pick the most beautiful one. The butler would come out into the rain and try to usher Alice in but it did no good. She would stay outside and say a prayer to her mother.

One day she noticed that the flowers were brown and rotted. She dashed outside to see what was wrong. The moment she felt the frost bitten winds, she recognized that it was winter and ran back to her warm parlor. Her father was reading a newspaper and was far to busy for the little girl. Since her flowers had died, she thought that her mother would hate her for not bringing a flower to her grave. In tears, the little Alice quickly grabbed a fur coat and ran off into the frosty day in search of the most beautiful flower.

She wandered the streets of a small town hoping to find the most beautiful flower. She came across a small flower shop and, looking around frantically, found a small rose. She did not have roses in her garden and she fell in love with the flower. Alice did not have any money for the rose. She asked the lady if she could take it home for her mother's grave. The lady kindly gave her the flower.

When Alice exited the shop, she realized that she did not know the way home. She wandered on the streets for hours but did not know how to get home. She begged and pleaded screaming " Help, I don't know how to get home!" but no one would respond to her pleas. She could tell that she was freezing and in a matter of time she would be frozen.

 She ran down the street and through the woods trying to protect the rose. She noticed something red floating away behind her. She stopped and peered back into the dark woods, a rose petal had fallen off. She did not stop to retrieve it but kept running. She found an opening of the woods and recognized that it was her garden. She ran even faster seeing a tombstone carved with the same cross that was on her mother's. It a matter of minutes she reached her mother's grave. Tired and cold she laid the rose on the grave. Alice felt the need to go to sleep, and too tired to go into the warm parlor she rested her head right next to her mother's tombstone. She later died that night. In the morning, the father found the girl frozen and a tear was frozen to her cheek. He buried her next to her mother with the rose in her coffin. Then he realized how much she truly loved her mother and soon he would start the same tradition she carried out until the flowers died.