Foxglove in France and Germany, and in some parts of England, is known as "Finger-flower," because of the resemblance it bears to the finger of a glove, a resemblance which poets have not failed to take advantage of . William Brown describes Pan as seeking gloves for his lady here:
"To keep her slender fingers from the sunne,
Pan through the pastures oftentimes hath runne
To pluck the speckled foxgloves from their stem,
And on those fingers neatly placed them."
 |
| Left, the cultivated foxglove. Right, "Five Living Fairies" rhyme and finger-play. |
Fairy-Caps
"Do you know the cultivated foxglove with its tall spikes of thimble-shaped flowers, prettily spotted inside? And do you know that these flowers will fit on the ends of your fingers like tall caps on the heads of little fairies ?
Perhaps there are foxgloves growing in your garden now. If there are, pick five blossoms off the stalk, selecting a large one for your thumb and a small one for your little finger; the others should be of a size in between these two.
Turn these blossoms upside down and they at once become fairy-caps. Fit the caps on all five fingers of your left hand. Then on your fingers, just below the caps, draw little faces with pen and ink. Now you have five living, moving fairies who will do all sorts of things and be very spry about it. They will nod at you joyously, they will bend low in solemn salute, and they will put their little heads together to plan some piece of mischief.
They can be fairy children at school, if you like, with the short, fat thumb fairy for the teacher; and you can make the fairy pupils stand close together, shoulder to shoulder, then at a word from the teacher, separate and stand alone again.
It will be fun to name the fairies, such names as Pepper-grass, Mustard-seed, and Catnip, and with the teacher standing before his class, have him call the roll and have each fairy bob his head as he answers to his name.
Perhaps you will want the teacher to require each pupil to sing a little song or recite a short verse. When a fairy does that, he moves forward in front of the others, and stays in that place until he has finished. Here is a pretty verse for a flower-capped fairy to recite:" The Beard Sisters
Perhaps there are foxgloves growing in your garden now. If there are, pick five blossoms off the stalk, selecting a large one for your thumb and a small one for your little finger; the others should be of a size in between these two.
Turn these blossoms upside down and they at once become fairy-caps. Fit the caps on all five fingers of your left hand. Then on your fingers, just below the caps, draw little faces with pen and ink. Now you have five living, moving fairies who will do all sorts of things and be very spry about it. They will nod at you joyously, they will bend low in solemn salute, and they will put their little heads together to plan some piece of mischief.
They can be fairy children at school, if you like, with the short, fat thumb fairy for the teacher; and you can make the fairy pupils stand close together, shoulder to shoulder, then at a word from the teacher, separate and stand alone again.
It will be fun to name the fairies, such names as Pepper-grass, Mustard-seed, and Catnip, and with the teacher standing before his class, have him call the roll and have each fairy bob his head as he answers to his name.
Perhaps you will want the teacher to require each pupil to sing a little song or recite a short verse. When a fairy does that, he moves forward in front of the others, and stays in that place until he has finished. Here is a pretty verse for a flower-capped fairy to recite:" The Beard Sisters
"I wonder what the Clover thinks,
Intimate friend of the BoboHnks,
Lover of Daisies, slim and white,
Waltzer with Buttercups at night.
Oh, who knows what the Clover thinks?
No one ! Unless the Bobolinks."
Intimate friend of the BoboHnks,
Lover of Daisies, slim and white,
Waltzer with Buttercups at night.
Oh, who knows what the Clover thinks?
No one ! Unless the Bobolinks."
