Phyonli — the Yellow Flower

Phyonli was a girl of the forest. The birds, the deer and the trees were her family, and the hills were green and happy around her.

One day a prince lost his way hunting and found her. Struck by her beauty, he married her and took her down to his palace. But in the palace Phyonli grew pale. She missed the forest, and the forest missed her — the trees withered, the streams thinned, and the animals grew quiet.

She begged to go home, but the palace would not let her go. At last she fell ill, and her last wish was to be buried in the hills.

Where she was laid to rest, a small, bright yellow flower bloomed — the fyonli. Each spring, when it appears on the slopes, children pick it along with buransh and scatter it at every doorstep for Phool Dei, remembering the girl who belonged to the mountains.