The latest detailed explanation of the flower language and legends of foxtail grass

Foxtail grass is also known as Arhat grass, barnyard grass, green foxtail, etc. It is an annual herbaceous plant of the genus Setaria in the grass family. It grows as a common weed in wilderness and roadsides below 4000 m in altitude. It is native to the temperate and warm temperate regions of Eurasia, and is now widely distributed in the temperate and subtropical regions of the world. Let us take a look below at the flower language and legends of foxtail grass!

The flower language of foxtail grass

Perseverance, love that is not understood by others, difficult love, secret love. There was once a very pretty little girl on her birthday. Many boys gave her flowers, all kinds of very beautiful ones, but a boy from a poor family gave the girl a bunch of foxtail flowers. At the time the girl was very angry and drove him out. Later, after thinking it over carefully, she wanted to know the reason. The boy told her that foxtail grass symbolizes love that is not understood by others, but that he could still quietly give for her.

The symbolism of foxtail grass

Take three stalks of foxtail grass and braid them into a plait, making one strand. According to the size of the finger, then bend it into a loop and tie a knot. Wear it on the finger, and it represents privately pledging to spend life together.

The legend of foxtail grass

A very, very long time ago, there was a beautiful and peaceful kingdom called the Kingdom of Red Sandalwood. This country was named because it was rich in purple sandalwood, and some people also said it was named because a fairy in purple who had descended to the mortal world came here, took away some sandalwood, and so it got the name. But no matter the reason, sandalwood calms the spirit, so all things here more or less had spirituality.

The surnames of the people of the Kingdom of Red Sandalwood were all related to colors. No matter how strange it was, no one would say anything, but this country had an unwritten rule: only members of the royal family could have the surname Zi.

The king of the Kingdom of Red Sandalwood was called Zi Ran. The queen had originally been a commoner named Lan Xun, and later changed her name to Zi Xun. The king and queen had a son named Zi Yi. Although this only son was not extremely handsome, he had a kind heart and an innate melancholy. The prince had a large garden filled with rare flowers and strange plants from many places. Walking into the garden was like being placed in nature itself.

The little prince's most pleasant times were walking in the garden in spring and admiring the flowers. In summer, he set up a gauze curtain in the garden, placed a bed there, and slept in the garden at night watching the stars. In autumn, he strolled in the garden and sighed with a sorrowful mood. In winter, he watched the snowy scenery in the garden. The king and queen knew that the prince loved his garden very much, so they instructed the servants to clear all the weeds in the garden every early spring, leaving only the prince's flowers blooming in the garden throughout the year. Of course, the prince never knew about these matters, and likewise, the prince had never seen grass.

But in this early spring, things took a turn. On this morning, the prince was strolling along the garden path. Beneath a white rose, the prince discovered a small foxtail grass. The little prince was very curious, because he had never seen grass before, so the prince called over the maids and the gardener. The gardener and the maids thought the prince would blame them for not clearing the grass completely, so the gardener hurried to pull up the foxtail grass. The prince grabbed the gardener's hand and signaled him not to do so, and showed great interest in this little grass, from time to time asking the gardener questions about foxtail grass. The gardener and the maids finally breathed a sigh of relief. Since this foxtail grass was already the only grass in this huge garden, the prince instructed the gardener not to remove it and to let it live or die on its own.

But no one knew that this little grass was a foxtail grass with thought and spirituality. It simply could not make sounds or move.

Prince Zi Yi came to the garden for a walk every day as usual. When passing by the foxtail grass, the prince would always stop and linger for a while, gazing and thinking with deep affection. The poor foxtail grass thought the prince was looking at it, so it felt fondness for the prince. But the little grass did not know that after the prince slept, he had long forgotten its existence. What the prince was gazing at was only the white rose in front of it, sent by the princess of a neighboring country. The little grass looked at the prince's face every day and fell in love with him. Although it could not speak, for it, being able to quietly gaze at the prince was already happiness enough.

As the days passed one by one, autumn was approaching. The garden was desolate, the tall plane trees began to shed leaves, the birches began to wither, and the foxtail grass did not have many days left either. The plants were destined to all die before winter. This was the law of nature and also the decree of heaven. But the foxtail grass refused to die just like that. It liked the prince. It also did not want to die. It was afraid the prince would be sad. But all of this was only its own wishful thinking, only its beautiful dream. The prince actually never remembered it, but the foxtail grass did not know this. So the grass decided to defy fate, for its own dream, and to defy heaven and nature in order to see the prince every day. It would live on regardless of the four seasons!

Throughout the whole autumn, the foxtail grass endured pain and lived under the oppression of the autumn wind. Finally, autumn passed, and in the whole garden, in the end, only the withered chrysanthemums and the thin, haggard foxtail grass remained. Soon winter came again, and in the garden only the plum blossoms and the weak foxtail grass were left. The prince came to the garden every day as usual, but what attracted him was only the cold-defying plum blossoms, not the dying foxtail grass. And under the devastation of wild wind and raging snow, what kept the grass alive was the prince's every smile and every frown as he admired the plum blossoms. Sometimes the snow was too heavy and the prince could not go out, so the little grass desperately pushed its way out of the snow layer, only to be able to glimpse the prince's palace.

Winter finally passed amid the little grass's blood and tears, and the foxtail grass faced one spring, summer, autumn, and winter after another with full spirit again.

Who knows how many more years passed. The little prince had already grown up, and the foxtail grass was no longer the same little grass as before, but what remained unchanged was still the little grass's love for the prince.

Winter came again. After a light snow, even the cold-defying plum blossoms in the garden were gone. In the lonely garden, only the green foxtail grass remained. The little grass suddenly felt that this winter was colder than all previous winters.

The snow melted, and the garden became lively again. But this was people being lively; spring had not come. Several hundred maids and guards held colored ribbons and red silk and hung lanterns and decorations in the garden. The lonely, cold garden became extraordinarily bustling. However, because the people were too happy, they did not notice that beside the path they had just laid, there was a green foxtail grass.

The foxtail grass was very curious and did not know why people were so happy, but intuition told it that something was going to happen. The grass suddenly panicked for the first time. The little grass was very surprised, because it had no heart. But just now it had indeed felt panic. The foxtail grass did not know that it was an anomaly among all plants, because not only did it have thought and spirituality, but more importantly, at the center of its spike there was a very, very small blue dot. That was the heart of the foxtail grass. Because it had a heart, the foxtail grass had emotion and independent thought.

Another 8 days passed. On the morning of that day, no more people came to the garden, and the garden had long since been decorated like paradise. Time passed bit by bit, and the foxtail grass panicked again, and its little heart slowly began to beat. By noon, light snow began to drift in the sky. The foxtail grass was astonished to discover that the snowflakes were actually faint purple, though the color was very, very light, so light that only tiny living beings could see it. Strangers in magnificent clothing came to the garden one after another. As evening approached, music sounded, and those nobles all put down what was in their hands and looked together toward the end of the path.

The snowflakes were still drifting. The foxtail grass saw the prince. He looked happier than on any other day. But beside the prince, there was a girl like a fairy, arm in arm with the prince, her face full of smiles. “What beautiful clothes they are wearing, just like...” While the foxtail grass was silently sighing in admiration, it suddenly realized that this was the prince's wedding, and this girl was the prince's bride...

The snow grew heavier and heavier. The prince and his bride, the princess of the neighboring country who had given him the white rose, walked along the path spread with a red carpet, getting closer and closer to the foxtail grass by the roadside. And the foxtail grass also gradually truly awoke: I am only a little foxtail grass, ordinary. I should not have deluded myself into liking the prince. After all, he is human, and the prince's companion in the end could only be a princess. Then all I can do is bless them... Why is this winter so cold? I seem unable to hold on...”. The foxtail grass suddenly felt an unprecedented cold. Yes, originally it had relied on its love for the prince to resist the severe cold, but now the protection had gone, and only the last bit of awareness remained in the foxtail grass.

The prince and princess stopped beside the foxtail grass. This time it was the princess's wish. “Zi Yi, look! There is still foxtail grass surviving in winter. This must be God's blessing to us!” The princess was overjoyed. The prince said in confusion: “It seems a very small foxtail grass grew here in the garden a few years ago. I do not know how it is doing. It probably died long ago.” “Then, can you weave this foxtail grass into a ring and give it to me? It seems quite unique.” “Of course! If one foxtail grass can bring you happiness, then it should be its pride!” With that, the prince went to pick the foxtail grass.

At this moment, with a faint “pop”, the blue heart of the foxtail grass shattered. “My prince?! I am the same little grass from before! Have you never remembered me? Zi Yi, Zi Yi, it seems all of this really was only a purple dream of mine! My last wish is...”. The prince pulled up the foxtail grass, and at this moment the life of the foxtail grass also ended. It did not even finish silently blessing its final wish, “I hope the prince can be happy”, before the life of the foxtail grass ended.

That evening, the princess wore the ring woven from foxtail grass by the prince and completed the wedding. And until the prince died, the prince never knew that the dream of a foxtail grass that had once silently liked him had been ended by his own hands. And although that foxtail grass ring withered, it was buried in the princess's tomb, because this ring was woven by the prince himself at the prince and princess's wedding...