Two days later the dragon-fly came flying back, and seated itself on the flower of the water-lily. "Oh, good-morning," said the water-lily. "Do I see you once more? I thought you had grown too fine to greet your old friends." "Good-day," said the dragon-fly. "Where shall I lay my eggs?" "Oh, you are sure to find some place," answered the flower. "Sit down for a bit, and tell me if you are any happier now than when you were crawling up and down my stalk, a little ugly larva." "Where shall I lay my eggs? Where shall I lay my eggs?" screamed the dragon-fly, and flew humming around from place to place, laid one here and one there, and finally seated itself, tired and weary, on one of the leaves. "Well?" said the water-lily. "Oh, it was better in the old days--much better," sighed the dragon-fly. "The sunshine is really delightful, and it is a real pleasure to fly over the water; but I have no time to enjoy it. I have been so terribly busy, I tell you. In the old days I had nothing to think about; now I have to fly about all day long to get my silly eggs disposed of. I haven't a moment free. I have scarcely time to eat." "Didn't I tell you so?" cried the water-lily in triumph. "Didn't I prophesy that your happiness would be hollow?" "Good-bye," sighed the dragon-fly. "I have not time to listen to your disagreeable remarks. I must lay some more eggs." But just as it was about to fly off the starling came. "What a pretty little dragon-fly!" it said; "it will be a delightful tit-bit for my little ones." Snap! it killed the dragon-fly with its bill, and flew off with it. "What a shocking thing!" cried the water-lily, as its leaves shook with terror. "Those animals! those animals! They are funny creatures. I do indeed value my quiet, peaceful life. I harm nobody, and nobody wants to pick a quarrel with me. I am very luck--" It did not finish what it was saying, for at that instant a boat came gliding close by. "What a pretty little water-lily!" cried Ellen, who sat in the boat. "I will have it!" She leant over the gunwale and wrenched off the flower. When she had got home she put it in a glass of water, and there it stood for three days among a whole company of other flowers. "I can't make it out," it said on the morning of the fourth day. "I have not come off a bit better than that miserable dragon-fly." "The flowers are now withered," said Ellen, and she threw them out of the window. So there lay the water-lily with its fine white petals on the dirty ground. [Illustration: THE DRAGONFLY AND THE WATERLILY] The Weeds [Illustration: The Weeds] It was a beautiful, fruitful season. Rain and sunshine came by turns just as it was best for the corn. As soon as ever the farmer began to think that things were rather dry, you might depend upon it that next day it would rain. And when he thought that he had had rain enough, the clouds broke at once, just as if they were under his command.