In this story a lonely and isolated farm wife meets a traveling tinker and realizes that, that which she considers precious and valuable....isn't. Symbolically the gift of a 'flower' represents womanhood (the flowering of womanhood). Therefore, when she gifts the tinker with her flowers, the suggestion is that she has shared herself with him. The act of him throwing the flowers aside as if they were nothing, are also representative of how the tinker views women.
