The Enchanted Apple Tree
We are familiar with German folktales from the brothers Grimm "Kinder und Hausmarchen" and French ones from Charles Perrault. Here is a charming story from Flanders which has all the ingredients of a classic fable.
A poor old woman living on her own had nothing in the world to give her pleasure so she was called Misery.
Well, she had one thing of beauty & joy- an apple tree that gave forth juicy, delicious ripe red gold fruit.
But people kept stealing all her apples. Day after day she would check the tree to find the fruit disappearing yet she never spied the thieves.
One day a stranger passed by, an ancient man with a long white beard who asked Misery if she could spare a crust of bread for a hungry traveller. She obliged and he said he might grant her a wish. Misery replied
" I wish that anyone who touches my apple tree sticks to it until I decide to set him free"
The following day Misery came out of her house to find an amazing sight. She saw sticking all over the tree unable to move, bunches of cheeky children, parents who had tried to pull them off, local servants, a rooster
and a goose, an owl,other birds and two cats. Misery erupted with laughter. She left all of them glued fast in the tree, shouting, crying, hooting, squawking & meowing.
Misery went about her domestic chores with a broad smile on her face that day but did eventually will the people and creatures to be released and they were.
Soon after this marvel, the lugubrious figure of Death came calling. "I have come to take you away with me" he announced. "Can I say no?" queried Misery. "You must come now" he said.
"Before we go" replied Misery "I suggest you try one of my lovely apples on yonder tree "
Death climbed up the tree to a high branch only to find himself thoroughly fixed to the branch and unable to budge, not even a tiny bit.
Death remained stuck in the tree and as a result no one died. Sailors at sea didnt drown, soldiers in battle didnt get killed, the elderly, the newborn, everyone was spared. Seasons came and went. Ten years passed and no one perished. Finally Misery tired of looking at the skeletal figure hanging uselessly from the tree.
"I will let you go" she said " but on one condition. That I can live as long as I wish to live."
"Granted!" said Death, the spell was broken and he fell clattering to the ground.
As a result - Misery is still in the world and always will be for she has no reason to travel away with creepy old Death.
There are a number of popular characters in flemish legend and folklore including the giant Lange Wapper who could move from one town to another in one single leap and the boy who urinated on an enemy army, celebrated by Manneken Pis. One great figure is Dulle Griet or Mad Meg in english. This was a common sobriquet given to a fierce,shrewish woman. Here she is painted by Pieter Breugel (the elder)
The artist was inspired by the flemish proverb: "She could plunder in front of Hell and return unscathed"
This woman and her army of likeminded friends and neighbours are tough enough to take on the Underworld. A saying of the time, 1560s, quoted-"one woman makes a din,two women a lot of trouble, three an annual market, four a quarrel, five an army and against six the Devil himself has no weapon"
The illustrations shown from the Enchanted Apple Tree story are details from a glass mosaic by Irish artist
Desmond Kinney.
The story features in a collection which I must get some day soon titled "Christmas Tales of Flanders"
published by Heinemann 1917 featuring illustrations by Jean De Bosschere.
A poor old woman living on her own had nothing in the world to give her pleasure so she was called Misery.
Well, she had one thing of beauty & joy- an apple tree that gave forth juicy, delicious ripe red gold fruit.
But people kept stealing all her apples. Day after day she would check the tree to find the fruit disappearing yet she never spied the thieves.
One day a stranger passed by, an ancient man with a long white beard who asked Misery if she could spare a crust of bread for a hungry traveller. She obliged and he said he might grant her a wish. Misery replied
" I wish that anyone who touches my apple tree sticks to it until I decide to set him free"
The following day Misery came out of her house to find an amazing sight. She saw sticking all over the tree unable to move, bunches of cheeky children, parents who had tried to pull them off, local servants, a rooster
and a goose, an owl,other birds and two cats. Misery erupted with laughter. She left all of them glued fast in the tree, shouting, crying, hooting, squawking & meowing.
Misery went about her domestic chores with a broad smile on her face that day but did eventually will the people and creatures to be released and they were.
Soon after this marvel, the lugubrious figure of Death came calling. "I have come to take you away with me" he announced. "Can I say no?" queried Misery. "You must come now" he said.
"Before we go" replied Misery "I suggest you try one of my lovely apples on yonder tree "
Death climbed up the tree to a high branch only to find himself thoroughly fixed to the branch and unable to budge, not even a tiny bit.
Death remained stuck in the tree and as a result no one died. Sailors at sea didnt drown, soldiers in battle didnt get killed, the elderly, the newborn, everyone was spared. Seasons came and went. Ten years passed and no one perished. Finally Misery tired of looking at the skeletal figure hanging uselessly from the tree.
"I will let you go" she said " but on one condition. That I can live as long as I wish to live."
"Granted!" said Death, the spell was broken and he fell clattering to the ground.
As a result - Misery is still in the world and always will be for she has no reason to travel away with creepy old Death.
There are a number of popular characters in flemish legend and folklore including the giant Lange Wapper who could move from one town to another in one single leap and the boy who urinated on an enemy army, celebrated by Manneken Pis. One great figure is Dulle Griet or Mad Meg in english. This was a common sobriquet given to a fierce,shrewish woman. Here she is painted by Pieter Breugel (the elder)
The artist was inspired by the flemish proverb: "She could plunder in front of Hell and return unscathed"
This woman and her army of likeminded friends and neighbours are tough enough to take on the Underworld. A saying of the time, 1560s, quoted-"one woman makes a din,two women a lot of trouble, three an annual market, four a quarrel, five an army and against six the Devil himself has no weapon"
The illustrations shown from the Enchanted Apple Tree story are details from a glass mosaic by Irish artist
Desmond Kinney.
The story features in a collection which I must get some day soon titled "Christmas Tales of Flanders"
published by Heinemann 1917 featuring illustrations by Jean De Bosschere.
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