Little Blue's Story (conclusion)
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The Rest of Little Blue’s Story
Story by Nancy Goulden and Phyllis Scherich.
The girls and boys of Kansas wanted Kansas to have a state grass, and they wanted that grass to be their happy friend, Little Blue. So they got busy. At first there was just one group of students in one school. They studied about the prairie where Little Blue lived, and about Little Bluestem and the other grasses that covered the pastures and hills. That class wrote a bill to name Little Bluestem the State Grass of Kansas.
Other teachers and students heard about the bill and wanted to help. Then more schools joined in. Some of them took prairie walks to visit Little Blue and her friends. Some even started to grow small prairie areas near their schools that they planted with seeds from Little Blue. They wrote letters to the people in Topeka who make the laws and invited them to come to their schools so they could talk with them about how important it was to pass a law that would make Little Bluestem the state grass.
On a cloudy, windy day in late winter, Little Blue shivered as her few remaining seed heads were whipped by the cold wind. She was glad when Larkie came zooming in and landed on one of Woody’s bare branches. Sunny’s dried remains of last summer’s flowers rattled in the wind. Larkie was very excited, “Little Blue, I just heard from a cousin of mine who has some great news from Topeka. The lawmakers are hearing about a bill today to make YOU the Kansas State Grass! Woody and Sunny cheered. Little Blue smiled, and smiled, and smiled.
But it wasn’t that easy. Two days later Larkie’s cousin sent word that some of the Representatives who make the laws really wanted Little Blue to be the Kansas State Grass, but one very important Representative had decided naming a state grass just wasn’t very important and so the bill would not be voted on.
Little Blue was sad, but said, “Oh well, at least some of the people who make the laws like me.” And Larkie added, “My cousin told me something else important. The people in the government in Topeka can vote again next year. That means the school students have another year to tell the lawmakers about Little Blue and get more of them to understand that Kansas needs a State Grass for a symbol.”
So another year passed. And then two more years. The lawmakers were busy with many other laws, and the state grass bill still did not go to all the lawmakers for them to vote. Little Blue and her friends began to believe Kansas would never have a state grass. All of the states around Kansas (Colorado, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Missouri) had a state grass, but not Kansas. Five years had passed since Little Blue and the other state symbols had first talked about Little Blue becoming the Kansas State Grass.
On a brilliant, sunny day in January, the time each year when the lawmakers meet in Topeka, Little Blue was standing in a snowdrift with just her tattered seed head sticking out. Larkie flew up and took his usual perch on Woody’s branch. “Hey Blue, my cousin says things seem to be different this year in Topeka. Many of the lawmakers are talking about a state grass. They say that more and more Kansas students from more classrooms have been writing them about Little Blue for Kansas State Grass.”
“The representatives and senators are thinking that if all Kansas students learn about Little Blue, then more will want to explore the prairie, learn about it and make sure that we treat our prairies well so they will still be a part of Kansas many years from now.”
As the long winter crept by on the prairie, a lot was happening in Topeka. The lawmakers read the many e-mails and letters girls and boys had written about Little Blue. Students from two Kansas schools were invited to give speeches to the lawmakers at the State House in Topeka, telling them why Little Bluestem should be named the Kansas State Grass. At last, the lawmakers were ready to vote. But would enough of them vote “yes” for Little Blue to make the bill a law?
Weeks passed and Little Blue and her friends heard nothing more about the vote. On a late winter day, when Little Blue and Sunny were beginning to feel the first little hints of spring growth in their roots, they heard someone talking. SammyJo, Cael, and Joseph, three students who loved being on the prairie, were looking at what remained of the prairie plants from last year and hunting for new little green shoots coming up.
Joseph looked up and saw Larkie “Look, there is our state bird, the Western Meadowlark, perched in our state tree, the Cottonwood. I wonder if we could find the Sunflower and Box Turtle too.”
Cael remembered where he’d seen sunflowers last summer and found some of the tall stalks and seed heads.
SammyJo remarked, “I think it’s still too cold for the box turtle to be out and walking about, but there is one more state symbol we should look for.”
Larkie, Sunny, Woody, and Little Blue were puzzled. Another state symbol? What is SammyJo talking about? So they listened as the children continued walking around the hillside, looking at the plants.
Joseph said, “Here’s Big Bluestem, and there is Indian Grass, and some Buffalo Grass.”
Suddenly Cael stopped at a bunch of grass with copper-colored stems. He put his arms around the bunch and called out, “I’ve found it. Here’s our brand-new state symbol, Little Bluestem, the Kansas State Grass!”
Little Blue shouted out loud “Oh!” This time it was a surprised, but very happy, sound. Larkie, Sunny, and Woody all cheered.
Joseph said, “Remember the day our teacher told us that the lawmakers had voted on the state grass bill and nearly all of the Representatives and Senators had voted ‘yes’? We were so excited because we’d waited so long for Little Blue to become our state grass.”
Cael spoke up, “We weren’t the only ones who were happy. Kids in classrooms in the west, south, north, and east parts of the state celebrated when Little Bluestem finally became the official Kansas State Grass.”
Little Blue was thrilled by the honor of becoming a state symbol, but she was also thinking about the responsibility. As a state symbol, she would be representing ALL of the grasses of the prairies and pastures of Kansas, just as Larkie represents all the birds of Kansas, Sunny represents all the native flowers of Kansas, and Woody represents all the native trees of Kansas. Blue knew her friends, the teachers and students, and all the people of Kansas who love the prairie would help her in her new job. Then she felt better.
And now Little Blue is gently swaying in the breeze. She has the company of the other state symbols and her native grass cousins, Indian Grass, Big Bluestem, Buffalo Grass, Grama Grass, Switchgrass and others. She is waiting for you to come visit and learn about the Kansas prairie.
