ABSTRACT

I too have a story about leaves and charms. My little daughter, Ada, did not encounter stinging nettles until we returned to England from America when she was nearly 4 years old. We were in the fields near Cambridge. I pointed out a nettle to her, and warned her not to touch. But, to reassure her, I told her about dock leaves: “If you get stung,” I said, “then we’ll rub the bad place with a dock leaf and it will very soon be better.”