In affairs of the heart, know your flowers!
A legend tells that when the young knight Sir Rupert gave his sweetheart, Lady Edith, a pink dianthus — a symbol of pure love — she unknowingly returned a striped carnation, which in the language of flowers means “I cannot be with you.”
Broken-hearted, Sir Rupert went off to war. Believing herself forsaken, Lady Edith followed him in disguise, dressed as an archer. In battle, she struck Sir Rupert with an arrow — perhaps in grief, or revenge. But as he lay wounded, she saw the striped carnation he had kept close to his breast.
Realising her mistake, she fell to the ground weeping and revealed her identity. They understood at last what had gone wrong.
Fortunately, Sir Rupert survived his wounds — and he and Lady Edith lived happily ever after, vowing never again to take the language of flowers so literally!
Image from The Temple of Flora (1797 – 1810) by Dr. Robert Thornton.