Once upon a time, there was an old woman who lived in a small house. She planted a lot of beautiful tulips (郁金香) in her garden.
One night, the sounds of sweet singing and of babies laughing woke her up. She looked out of the window. The sounds seemed to come from the tulips, but she could see nothing.
The next morning she walked among her flowers, but there were no signs of anyone having been there the night before.
On the following night she was again wakened (弄醒) by the sounds of sweet singing and babies laughing. She got out of bed and walked softly into her garden. The old woman looked closely and she noticed that a fairy (精灵) mother was singing softly, and that in each tulip-cup was a little fairy baby, laughing and playing.
The old woman went back to her house quietly. From then on, she never picked a tulip. She didn't allow her neighbours to pick the flowers, either. When the old woman died, all the tulips disappeared overnight. But her grave (坟墓) looked beautiful, because the fairies sang above it and kept it green.
