Fable of Fruit

One fall, many years ago, a family of farmers just south of the small town in the beautiful valley fell on hard times.  Their bad luck started when all six of their cows fell ill and died in the same week.  Without the livestock to sell, they were unable to pay the local noble when yearly tithes came due, so the noble took their land instead and began charging them rent to farm there.  The family, struggling as it was, could not meet these many burdens the noble imposed and fell further into debt.  Without help, the family worried that they would soon be forced into slavery.

The leader of this family visited the elders of the small town to ask for help.  The elders, hating to see a proud person so hopeless, agreed to talk with the noble lord.  First, they asked the noble to forgive the family’s debt but the lord refused.  Next, the elders asked if they could buy the family’s debt from the lord but, thinking that the family would fall deeper into debt, the noble refused once again.  Finally, the elders tried to simply buy the family and their land from the noble.  At this, the noble grew angry and refused to speak with the town elders any more.

The town elders, before the noble managed to force them off its land altogether, apologized to the poor family that the lord had ignored them and explained that they had no legal power over the nobility outside of town.  They could think of no other option and sadly returned to the town.

The youngest child of the unfortunate family, not yet an adolescent, did not give up, however.  Instead, this child left their task in the fields one day and traveled up into the hills, up to the great willow by the lake.  When this child finally reached the tree, it found a red panda curled up right near the trunk.  The child, not knowing the proper way of things, simply asked the tree to help its family to pay off their debts and keep their freedom.

The red panda stood up, stretched, then grabbed a fruit growing on a bush and walked over to the poor child.  The creature chewed through the fruit until all that was left were the seeds, which it dropped to the dirt before the child.  It repeated this until the child got the idea and began helping; soon there was a small pile of seeds on the ground.  Still somewhat mystified, the child gathered the seeds in its skirt and brought the whole bunch back to its family.

Being farmers, they planted these seeds in a fallow field and, sooner than anyone would have expected, the most delicious and juicy fruit was growing among the rows of low bushes.  At first the family simply sold the fruit to passersby for a little change but, realizing that they needed the seeds to replant the fruit, they came up with a way to make juice from the fruit.  Soon the children of the family could be found in the small town on most days, selling this sweet and refreshing fruit juice.

With this extra income source, the family worked their way out of debt and even managed to buy their land back.  By the time that youngest child had grown into an adult, the family was famous throughout the beautiful valley for their fruit juice.