Chapter 16 ROSES AND THORNS

David pulled a rose from the little bush by the house corner, and began to chew its petals.

"Don't do that!" begged Polly. "It doesn't want to be eaten up."

The boy laughed, looking ruefully down at the jagged edges of the flower.

"It isn't sweet anyway," he argued. "If I were a rose I'd be sweet, and I wouldn't have thorns. But then," he