Section 1
There was a small creature called an elf who lived in the most beautiful rose of a rose tree that was growing in a garden. The elf was so small that nobody could see him with their eyes. The elf’s home was behind one of the petals of the rose flower. He had many rooms, one behind each leaf of the rose. He was a tiny creature, but he looked like a perfect and lovely child. He even had wings that went from his shoulders all the way down to his feet. The little rooms smelled very nice, like the wonderful scent of the rose flower. The walls of his rooms were very clean and lovely to look at because they were made from the pinkish-red leaves of the rose.
The elf had a lot of fun during the day in the warm sunshine. He flew from one flower to another, enjoying their sweet nectar. Sometimes, he even danced on the wings of the butterflies as they flew around him. The elf had an idea to count how many steps he would need to take to walk on all the twists and turns of the leaf of a Linden tree. He wanted to explore and have an adventure! The elf thought the tiny lines on a leaf were like roads that he could follow. But those roads were very long for him, and it took a long time to walk on them all. Unfortunately, he started too late in the day, and soon it became dark and cold outside. Dew began to fall, and the wind started blowing, so the elf decided it would be best to go back home. The elf tried to go back home as fast as he could, but he was too late. All the rose flowers had closed up tightly, and he couldn’t get inside any of them. None of the roses were open, and he was very scared because he didn’t have a place to sleep for the night. The elf had never been outside at night before. He always slept hidden behind the cozy rose petals. Now, he was scared that he might not survive the cold and scary night without any shelter. He thought it might be the end of him! The elf remembered that at the other end of the garden, there was a cozy arbor with beautiful flowers called honeysuckles. The honeysuckle flowers were big and colorful, and they looked like painted horns. The elf had an idea that he could sleep there until morning, where he would be safe and warm. The elf flew quickly to the arbor, but he heard people talking inside. There was a handsome young man and a beautiful lady sitting together, and they wished they could stay with each other forever. The man and the woman loved each other even more than a child loves their parents.
The young man said, “But we have to say goodbye. Your brother doesn’t want us to be together, so he sent me away on a long journey over mountains and seas. Goodbye, my sweet bride, because that’s what you are to me.”
The young man and the lady hugged each other tightly and kissed. The girl cried, and she gave the young man a rose as a gift. Before she gave it to him, she kissed the rose so hard that the flower opened up. The little elf flew into the arbor and rested his head on the soft and sweet-smelling rose petals. He could hear the couple saying goodbye to each other very clearly. The elf knew that the girl had given the rose to the young man as a parting gift, and he could feel the rose being placed on the young man’s chest. The little elf felt the man’s heart beating so fast and loud that he couldn’t sleep. He was so confused about what would happen next. The young man took the rose with him as he walked through the dark woods all by himself. He kissed the flower so many times and so hard that the little elf almost got squished! The little elf could sense how warm the young man’s lips were even though he was separated by the rose leaf. The rose had opened up as if it was a hot summer day.
A mean and unhappy man, who was the brother of the lovely girl, arrived. The man who was kissing the rose didn’t see him and the bad man used a knife to hurt and kill him. He cut off his head and buried his body in the soft ground under the Linden tree.
“I'm glad he’s gone,” thought the wicked brother. “He’ll never come back now that I’ve killed him. He was going on a long journey and it’s easy for someone to lose their life on such a trip. My sister will think he’s dead and won’t ask me about him.”
The wicked brother then threw some dry leaves over the soft earth with his foot, hiding the spot where he buried the young man’s body. He then went home thinking he was alone. However, he did not know that the little elf was following him. The little elf sat inside a dry leaf from a Linden tree. This leaf had fallen on the head of the wicked man while he was digging a hole to bury the young man’s body. The little elf was now sitting inside a hat that covered the wicked man’s head. It was very dark inside and the elf was scared and angry because of the terrible thing that the wicked man had done.
