Looking for a way to make your nature walks more meaningful for you and your kids (or others interested in plant lore)? I love storytelling, plant legends and folklore- my other blog The Herbalist’s Path also covers some legends and folklore if you would like to check out more.
This one is a charming old fairy tale about one of my favorite flowers- The buttercup Ranunculus – The botanical name for buttercup is the diminutive of “rana”, which means frog- the buttercup loves to grow in the same habitat frogs prefer.
Image by AnneTanne via Flickr
Although they are not blooming now (we can expect them in early may around the Pacific Northwest) I thought that this bright beauty may cheer you up on a cold winter day.
The tale….
A man was so obsessed with finding the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow that he had no time for human relationships.
Finally when he was an old man, he did find the pot of gold and tried to hide it, but an elf who followed him cut a hole in the pot so that the gold pieces dropped out one by one.
The fairies came along and fastened a green stem to each piece of gold so that they would not sink into the earth and get lost.
Because gold had only made the man selfish and unhappy, a good fairy turned all the gold pieces into buttercups which would bring more durable happiness to the world than gold pieces.
Resource: Profiles of Northwest Plants by Peggy Robinson
Related articles
- Ranunculus Radiates Charm (funflowerfacts.com)
