Stories about the thing a life is spent looking for: a knight who follows a legend, a Persian magus who follows a star, a man who finds the blue flower and does not recognize it. Van Dyke was a Princeton professor, a clergyman and Wilson's minister to the Netherlands during the war; he took his title from Novalis, and these 1902 tales are the American Romantic in his best form.

Henry van Dyke (1852-1933) was an American clergyman, professor, and writer. He served as pastor of the Brick Presbyterian Church in New York City and later as professor of English literature at Princeton University. His works include the story collections The Ruling Passion and The Blue Flower.