Flower legends for children

ROSES RED AND WHITE.

Reading edition

There was once a beautiful goddess called Venus, and she loved the handsome young god Adonis. Poor Adonis died from the wound of a wild boar he was hunting, and, when Venus heard of this, she ran grief-stricken through the woods in despair, to look for and aid her beloved Adonis.

As she was running along, her foot was pricked by a thorn, and the blood that flowed from the wound suddenly sprang up into a beautiful red rose.

Story page illustration featuring a detailed black and white pen-and-ink sketch of blooming rose bushes.

Afterwards, Venus sat and wept because Adonis was dead; and where her tears fell on the ground there blossomed a lovely white rose.

Illustration of six children in Edwardian clothing gathering bright red berries from a large rowan tree in a hilly landscape.

Story header titled 'The Rowan' featuring a winged fairy child nestled among leafy rowan branches with red berries.