How the Little Flower Got it’s Name

When God was creating the world, he called a name and instantly whatever he had called sprang forth; stone or star, animal or tree. Everything softly repeated its name a few times so that it should remember it. Only the cuckoo is so forgetful that he must still say it aloud so as not to forget it. Most of them learned it at once and they need to know it, for each spring God calls them again, one after the other. “Snowdrop!” and immediately it pushes up from the ground. “Violet!” and a sweet scent arises from the hedgerows. “primrose!” and the mossy banks turned yellow. And so it goes on. It would be dreadful if a flower forgot its name and did not come when called.

And yet, one flower did forget its name. What it really was no one knows. She had just opened her blue petals, and the name God had given her was sounding in her heart, when suddenly along came a blue butterfly and settled upon it. It was strange enough that the butterfly should be just as blue as she was, but the most wonderful thing was the lower part of his wings, for they were covered with tiny eyes. The flower could not stop wondering and when at last the butterfly flew away, she had forgotten her name!

How frightened she was! And it was still more dreadful when she saw God in the meadow asking each thing for its name. They all remembered, not one had forgotten. The poor little flower would have liked to sink into the earth; she hung her head for shame. But God did not scold her; He knew at once what had happened and said: “You have forgotten your name, have you not? Never mind, but—” and here he looked at her intently, “Forget me not.”

God had gone far away, but still the little flower remembered his words “Forget me not,” and this became her new name. And so she always looks up to God so that she may never forget Him.

–Michael Bauer