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Friday, September 10, 2010
Saturday, May 01, 2010

Magic Fruit - A Short Story

Written by: Shwetha M. Story with a moral
6th Grade Student, Birmingham, AL

Once upon a time there lived a king who was fond of keeping birds as pets. Among the king’s pet was a parrot named Alex. He helped the king to take decisions.

Now, one day as the king was surrounded by his courtiers, a large flock of parrots flew by and settled on the branches of the tree nearby. Alex was sitting near the king.

Drawing by Prince Banga, Age 9
Drawing by Prince Banga, Age 9

In a while all the parrots started talking to Alex in a drill voice. Alex said to the King, "Your Majesty, my parents miss me very much and want me to visit them. May I go?” The king could not bear the thought of Alex leaving. The King said, “I can’t let you leave, you’ll never come back!”

“No your Majesty, that can never happen. How can I ever forget my master? I will definitely return. On my return I will bring back a magic fruit. It gives eternal youth to one who eats it”, Alex said. The king allowed Alex to fly back to his native land for a week.

So Alex flew back to his native land. Alex now reached his parents who were overjoyed to welcome him. They stretched their beaks lovingly to Alex.

However, like all good things time ended soon. It was time for Alex to return to the royal court. At this time Alex’s parents felt sad, but they believed that one should never forgets one’s promise. Alex asked his parents, “Can I take one of the magic fruits with me as a gift for the king?” Alex’s parents gladly gave him the magic fruit and Alex flew across the ocean back to see the king who loved him so very much. The king was overjoyed to see Alex and was delighted to see the magic fruit brought with him.

“Why not plant the fruit in the royal garden, your majesty?” advised the courtiers. The king liked the idea. So the seed was planted. The tree grew in the royal garden. One day, a big ripe fruit fell on the ground and hit a large poisonous cobra passing along at that moment.

Angry, the cobra stung it. The poison entered the fruit. Next morning, the royal gardener not knowing there was poison in the fruit picked it up and took it to the palace.

He put the fruit at the feet of the King who was delighted. “Let us offer it to the idol in the temple” said the courtiers. So the magic fruit was taken to the temple as an offering to god. The priest was happy to receive it. Then after offering it to god the priest had cut the fruit into small pieces and distributed the fruit to the King’s family members. They all ate the fruit and soon died of the poison. The courtiers who were all full of envy saw their chance to revenge on Alex. “Your Majesty, this is part of a plot to kill you and to kill us all!”, they said.

The King weirdly believed them and the king took out his sword and killed Alex. One day a washerman and his wife were passing by that tree. They were an old couple, hated each other, and quarreled constantly. They wanted to end their lives. The washerman’s eyes fell on the tree, there it was the solution. He jumped up grabbed a fruit (the fruits on the tree are not poisoned) and quickly took a bite off of it. “Look, I am going to die this very moment. I will be free from you’re your nagging. Whoever eats the fruit dies instantly.” His wife was more than a match to him; she grabbed the fruit out of his hand and bit into it. The washerman and his wife laid themselves down under the tree. They closed their eyes. They were sure to die they knew.

Next morning, when they wake up, they looked at each other in utter astonishment. They were both young man and woman. What a miracle! The King came to hear about this and called the gardener immediately and asked, “Did you pick the magic fruit from the tree or the ground?” The gardener spoke the truth he had found it lying on the ground. The king saw his mistake, the fruit must have been stung by poisonous creature. “My Alex!” cried the King. There was no plot to kill him or to kill anybody!

Moral: Never take decisions in haste.

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