ABSTRACT
As we walked down one evening from a little Umbrian hill town to the local railway station my wife gathered some wild-flowers, of which she is very fond. While we waited at the station we passed the time of day with the station master's wife, who was tending her garden, and praised her flowers. Just before the train arrived she came up and smilingly presented my wife with a bunch - unusual behaviour to a couple of complete strangers, passing tourists. As an act of courtesy, a pure gift, it touched us deeply. How far was it a symbolic act?
