God turned it to good.
If we suffer wrong--if we are misunderstood and despised--then we may
recall the words of Him who was purity and goodness itself, and who
forgave and prayed for those who buffeted Him and nailed Him to the
cross." The girl stood still in front of the wonderful plant, whose
great leaves exhaled a sweet and refreshing fragrance, and whose
flowers glittered like a coloured flame in the sun; and from each
flower there came a sound as though it concealed within itself a deep
fount of melody that thousands of years could not exhaust. With pious
gratitude the girl looked on this beautiful work of the Creator, and
bent down one of the branches towards herself to breathe in its
sweetness; and a light arose in her soul. It seemed to do her heart
good; and gladly would she have plucked a flower, but she could not
make up her mind to break one off, for it would soon fade if she did
so. Therefore the girl only took a single leaf, and laid it in her
Bible at home; and it lay there quite fresh, always green, and never
fading.

Among the pages of the Bible it was kept; and, with the Bible, it was
laid under the young girl's head when, a few weeks afterwards, she lay
in her coffin, with the solemn calm of death on her gentle face, as if
the earthly remains bore the impress of the truth that she now stood
before her Creator.

But the wonderful plant still bloomed without in the forest. It was
almost like a tree to look upon; and all the birds of passage bowed
before it.

"That's giving itself foreign airs now," said the thistles and the
burdocks; "we never behave like that here."

And the black snails actually spat at the flower.

Then came the swineherd. He was collecting thistles and shrubs, to
burn them for the ashes. The wonderful plant was placed bodily in his
bundle.

"It shall be made useful," he said; and so said, so done.

[Illustration: THE POOR GIRL'S TREASURE.]

But soon afterwards, the king of the country was troubled with a
terrible depression of spirits. He was busy and industrious, but that
did him no good. They read him deep and learned books, and then they
read from the lightest and most superficial that they could find; but
it was of no use. Then one of the wise men of the world, to whom they
had applied, sent a messenger to tell the king that there was one
remedy to give him relief and to cure him. He said:

"In the king's own country there grows in a forest a plant of heavenly
ori