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May Dreams Gardens

The Legend of the Toad Lily

September 18, 2014 By Carol Michel 9 Comments

Tricyrtis ‘Imperial Banner’

Once upon a time, there were several garden fairies out enjoying a cool late summer’s evening.   They were having a marvelous time, drinking dew drop tea and eating bits of acorn muffins, when one of them spied a little white lily shaped flower.

All the garden fairies thought the little white lily looked rather plain and decided right then to give it a new look so it would stand out more in the garden.

They debated on what the new look should be. Some of the garden fairies thought the flower should have stripes. Other garden fairies argued it would be prettier if it were one solid color.

Back and forth they discussed, debated, and argued.  Stripes. Solids. Stripes. Solids.

Nearby a little toad named Toadalina was listening in.  After a while she got tired of hearing the garden fairies go on and on and decided she would paint the white lily herself and it wouldn’t be stripes or a solid color.

Toadalina chose spots for the lily because after all, she had spots on her skin and she thought she was quite the prettiest toad she’d ever seen.  She wasted no time after deciding, on the spot, to put spots on the lily.

She picked up a brush made out of the finest bird feathers and gathered up some paint made out of the petals of the brightest asters and proceeded to paint spots all over the flower.

When Toadalina was finished, she hopped back, admired her handiwork, and left for the evening.

The garden fairies, so intent on their discussion about stripes and solids, never noticed the little toad.  Just as they were about to call a recess to their discussion, because the dawn was fast approaching, one of the fairies saw the now spotted lily and exclaimed, “How pretty! It’s spotted like a toad.  We shall call it a toad lily.”

Then off they went back to their own homes, happy to no longer have to debate “stripes or solids”.

Because clearly the answer was spots.

The End.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: fairies, humor, perennials

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Dee Nash says

    September 18, 2014 at 3:09 am

    Lovely story.~~Dee

    Reply
  2. Mark and Gaz says

    September 18, 2014 at 9:36 am

    Fascinating story!

    Reply
  3. Mike the Gardener says

    September 18, 2014 at 3:39 pm

    Love the story 🙂

    Reply
  4. www.ravenscourtgardens. com says

    September 18, 2014 at 8:36 pm

    I thoroughly enjoyed your story! We are working on a project and they have a toad that lives around there pond his name is Leo.

    Reply
  5. Unknown says

    September 19, 2014 at 4:36 pm

    Well, know I know ! I've always wondered how they came to be the way they are !

    Reply
  6. Lisa at Greenbow says

    September 19, 2014 at 8:28 pm

    So that's how it happened. Sweet.

    Reply
  7. Commonweeder says

    September 24, 2014 at 2:22 pm

    You tell the best stories. I can tell you keep your ears open.

    Reply
  8. Indie says

    September 27, 2014 at 8:43 pm

    Very cute! Now we know!

    Reply
  9. Ellen says

    October 1, 2017 at 10:20 pm

    So entertaining. And not just because of the acorn muffins. Which I know you put in there just for me. Thank you.

    Reply

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