| Fragrant love stories of the camellia |
 "Don't you dare presume to be exempted. You know that I fall sick from smelling the flowers." This is a passage from the novel "La Dame aux Camelia" by Alexander Dumas (fils). The heroine Marguerite, "Lady of the Camellias", scolds her suitor who unknowingly displeases her with a gift of strong-smelling bouquet. Allergic to the strong scent of flowers, she always holds a bouquet of camellias with little scent to avoid coughing. Published at about the same time, Alcott's "Flower Fables" is also based on the premises that camellias have no perfume. Its protagonist Imperia is a Venetian beauty who marries Count Stennio. But marriage is nothing but a boredom for this lovely woman who has a heart of stone. The Count says to her, "You are just like the blooming Camellia brought back from the Orient by the Jesuits. Beautiful but without the smell of love." But Imperia gives him a cold smile and leaves for the ball. When the Count takes his own life in despair, Imperia finally realizes her deep loss and mourns by saying " A woman cannot go on living without love, but a flower can bloom without perfume." Both love stories are based on the assumption that camellias have no fragrance. They probably would not have been written that way if the authors knew of fragrant camellias. |
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