The apple seeds | Page 2 | Sunday Observer

The apple seeds

8 May, 2022

Once upon a time, there was a forest called the Evergreen Forest. A small family lived in a little cottage in the middle of the forest. There was a woodcutter, his wife and their two children, George and Dorothy. The woodcutter’s wife got ill suddenly, and after a few days the woman died. The family was very poor, so sometimes they had to starve.

One day, the woodcutter told his children that he’ would go to the city and sell wood. He said he would come after three weeks. The next day the woodcutter went to the city. That afternoon the children were very hungry but there was nothing in the house to eat. George said to Dorothy that there were many fruit trees in the forest.

He told Dorothy to go quickly. So, Dorothy went to the forest with her fruit basket to find some fruit.

When she was walking, she saw an apple tree. It had dead branches but no fruit. Then the apple tree spoke to her and asked her whether she could remove the dead branches. Dorothy was kind, so she climbed the apple tree and broke the dead branches.

Her hands got pricked and became painful, but she didn’t mind.

The apple tree thanked her, and then the tree gave some apple seeds and said, to plant them.

Dorothy thanked the apple tree and also found some oranges and bought them. Dorothy came home, and George saw the oranges.

Now, it was his time to go. When he was walking, he saw the same apple tree. Again, the apple tree asked him if he could remove the dead branches but George didn’t break any branches because he didn’t want to get his hands dirty. The apple tree gave him apple seeds and George took them without thanking. He found some strawberries and bought them.

The next day the two children planted their apple seeds. After two weeks their two apple trees grew. Dorothy’s apple tree was very strong and there were gold and silver apples and they were very juicy.

George’s tree was very weak and crooked. Its apples were rotten and was black in colour. They tasted just like rotten apples.

Dorothy took pity on George, so she told him to pluck some apples from her tree. But when George tried to pluck a fruit, the fruit grew spikes so George’s hands got pricked. George started to cry and Dorothy was sad for him.

Then suddenly an angel appeared and the two children were amazed.

The angel said that she lived in the apple tree. She had wanted to test if George and Dorothy were generous or selfish. So, she grew dead branches on her tree. Dorothy didn’t care about getting her hands pricked, but George was selfish so he didn’t help the apple tree. As a punishment for his selfishness, she gave him cursed apple seeds.

George said sorry to the angel and told her that he will never be selfish again. The angel forgave George, and she turned to George’s apple tree and she took out her magic wand and said a few magic words and the apple tree turned into a strong tree with gold and silver apples. And then the angel vanished.

The woodcutter came the next day, and he was happy to see the two apple trees. They sold the apples and became richer day by day. They lived happily ever after.

Malsha Lily Herath,

Grade 6C,

Matale International School,

Matale.

 

 

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