was born in Sri Lanka, and came to Wales to convalesce during World War II. After the War he moved to Llanelen (a few miles North of Goytre Wharf) where he did most of the research for Rape of the Fair Country, before moving to Holywell Road in Abergavenny, his home for many years. 
FAIRY WISHES
THE LEGEND OF THE DAISY.
as retold by M. C. Carey.
THE LEGEND OF THE DAISY.
as retold by M. C. Carey.
Lying out one day in a meadow, I reflected upon the old tales I had heard from the Elf.
Weeks of summer were passing, and I failed to trace him, and missed his fascinating stories.
The meadow sloped down to a hollow where an old well stood, grey stone with delicate fern, cool in the dark, clear depths fringing the water.
A gnarled old Elm spread leafy branches over me ; no sound was heard save for a reaper's sickle as the men whetted the blade and fell anew to work amid the golden corn.
A bantam cockerel crowed, and with the sound came other sounds upon my ear, a murmur as of tiny voices close at hand.
And then I knew, for in the meadow where I lay
A bantam cockerel crowed, and with the sound came other sounds upon my ear, a murmur as of tiny voices close at hand.
And then I knew, for in the meadow where I lay
"you scarcely tell
White daisies from white dew,"
and they grew in thousands, with their golden eyes open all day, ready to shut as night befell or shower passed.
Beloved of children, the Daisy stands for innocence, and from the myriads of little flowers the story of their lives came wafted on the summer air :
"Lo ! when a tiny babe, born upon earth, is carried by the Angels back to God, Death's hand upon his little heart, the soul of each sweet child longs to console the sorrowing mother, left on earth to mourn for him. So eagerly the little hands scatter new and lovely flowers for memory and tender cheer. One day, Malvinia, whose infant son had but beheld the world and passed again, wept sorely, 'midst her maidens. Suddenly one came to her and cried, 'Look, look ! Malvinia, we have seen the babe you mourn. Cradled in rainbow-tinted mists he neared us, and his little hands "out of the star girt bed, a harvest of new flowers shed." See, here is one, the golden centre with a wreath of silver leaves, just tinged with red, and as we watch them bend in the tender breeze it seems a little
child playing among green meadow grasses. Fret not, it is thy infant now in Heaven.' "And thus unto this day the Daisy stands as an emblem of infancy, purity and love.
Called Marguerite and Pearl flower, the Daisy blooms near by St. Margaret's Day, and men say that spring is not yet come until they can place their foot on twelve at once. They call it Star of Italy, symbol of sweet Queen Margherita - her royal flower.
Of the Daisy, beloved of poets, down the ages comes many a tale which tells of love's sacrifice when the Daisy was the flower that noble spirits took when after death they came to bloom on earth. For once the golden Belus lurked with her sister Nymphs in forest glade, queens of the woodland. But on a day as twilight fell, and the red sun glowed like a ball of fire amid the trees, the Nymphs were dancing in an open space, and the fair Belus with her lover looked so fresh and sweet that Vertumnus, the guarding deity of Spring, was fascinated by her lithesome grace and flew to her. her lover, jealous, raised his hand in ire, and the fair Nymph, alarmed, turned herself into a chaste Daisy flower. And to this day we see,
Of the Daisy, beloved of poets, down the ages comes many a tale which tells of love's sacrifice when the Daisy was the flower that noble spirits took when after death they came to bloom on earth. For once the golden Belus lurked with her sister Nymphs in forest glade, queens of the woodland. But on a day as twilight fell, and the red sun glowed like a ball of fire amid the trees, the Nymphs were dancing in an open space, and the fair Belus with her lover looked so fresh and sweet that Vertumnus, the guarding deity of Spring, was fascinated by her lithesome grace and flew to her. her lover, jealous, raised his hand in ire, and the fair Nymph, alarmed, turned herself into a chaste Daisy flower. And to this day we see,
"Little Cyclops, with one eye
Staring to threaten and defy -
The freak is over and behold !
A silver shield with boss of gold,
That spreads itself some fairy bold
In fight to cover."
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