Story
of Honeysuckle Flower
Once upon a time there were two little twin girls,
called Golden Flower and Silver Flower. As they
grew up, the two young sisters played and did everything
together. They both had skilled hands and were very
deft at embroidery. Everyone loves the bright little
girls.
At the age of eighteen, they were as pretty as
flowers. No end of suitors came seeking their hands
in marriage, but the twins were not interested in
marriage. "We were born together so let's be
buried together, " they said. Time passed in
this way until one day Golden Flower suddenly felt
sick. Soon she had a temperature. She was hot all
over and red spots began to break out. She could
not leave her bed.
The twins' distracted parents called a doctor.
"The young lady has a bad fever and red spots,
" said the doctor. "No medicine can save
her. "Silver Flower would not leave her sister's
bedside for even a moment, and cried her eyes sore.
Before long she too fell ill. "We hope that
after we die we can become a medicinal plant that
cures fever," they said. "That way, people
who catch fever like us won't face certain death.
"
After they died the twin sisters were buried together.
Sure enough, one year later a kind of vine began
to grow from their grave. It spread and spread,
and blossomed with golden flowers. Remembering the
girls' dying wish, the local people picked the flowers
and stewed a liquid from them. When anyone who caught
fever drank the liquid, the fever soon vanished,
so the plant was named Golden-Silver Flower (the
honeysuckle) after the two girls. |