I found the giant sitting by a country stream, holding a daffodil in his mighty hands and whistling to the birds.

Who can see the first daffodils of spring without feeling a sort of spiritual festival that the beauty of the flower alone cannot explain?

Every silk-hat glistened, every shoe was blacked, the flowers on the women's hats were as fresh as the daffodils against the house fronts.

According also to the old rhyme: "Then comes the daffodil beside Our Lady's smock at our Lady's tide.

Sunlight lay on everything, Sailing cloud and soaring wing, Emerald banks where snow had been, Drifts of daffodils between.

A great bunch of daffodils on an old table near the door made the spot seem quite festive enough for the occasion, and Sally, when she had caught her breath and pushed back the distracting curls, proved herself to possess a fair amount of the poise of the accustomed hostess whom nothing can really upset.