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IX.
And when he had eaten his fill, he sat down on the soft moss, crossed one little leg over the other, and began to gossip with the fire-flies. And as he so often thought on his unknown parents, he asked them who were their parents. Then the one nearest to him gave him answer, and he told how that they were formerly flowers, but none of those who thrust their rooty hands greedily into the ground and draw nourishment from
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