Illustration©2010BabetteandfriendsStill flowering but, all bent
Like the letter n
Bloomed on the hill top.
Babette being a curious pup
Decided to climb up
And ask how she came to be
Such a bent up tree.
On her way up the mountain
She met the gardner Mr. Anton
Asked him if he knew
How the apple tree came to be
Such a bent up tree.
Mr Anton had a belly laugh
Ha ha ha he always laughed.
"Naughty children of course! They did it"
He said continuing his joyful laugh.
"Children pulled down her branches and never stopped
Climbed up and swung, hopped and dropped
So, the tree got bent. What else could she do but, stoop at the end?
Babette said
"O, is that so?"
She continued her walk
Towards the hill top.
By the stream she met little bluejay
Happily washing his wing and drinking from the stream
"Tweets to you Babette
Where are you trotting like a horse
So early in the morning?"
"I am going up the hilltop
To ask the Bent Apple tree
How she got her shape
Like the letter n"
"O"
Said little Blue jay.
"My grandmother told me
How Bent Apple tree got her bent
Like the letter n.
Let me tell you :
Many many many years ago
When this very apple tree
Was a very young apple tree
On a very very very rainy night
A terrible wind was blowing hard
There was a mother bird and her baby chicks
Nesting on this very apple tree.
That night of the storm
Poor bird's nest was hanging from a thread
About to be swept away, o what dread!
Little chicks chirp chirped hither and thither
Mother bird fluttered titter jitter
But, Apple tree said:
"Do not shed one more tear,I will save ye!
Then bowed her branches and bent like a snake
Held the nest between her tree fingers like a cradle
Crouching and bowing against its blows
Bravely fought against the mighty wind
Finally she did save all the chicks
But, she remained forever bent
After that rainy stormy night."
"O" said Babette " is that so?"
She continued her walk
Up the hill top
To ask the Bent Apple tree
How she got her bent.
When she finally arrived by the tree
She met Mr O'Chip the chipmunk
"O, hello Babette what a surprise" he said.
"What are you doing up, so far from home at the hill top?"
Babette now a little tired
From climbing up
Said "I came to find out
How the Bent Apple tree
Came to be such a bent tree."
"O, We chipmunks know how she came to be so bent" said Mr O' Chip.
"Long long long longtime ago
Our ancestors had a terrible king: Chippy The Terrible.
He did not have a red tail
So, he ordered all chipmunks with red tails
To be banished from Chip Kingdom.
Of course, red tailed chips were not happy
To be exiled by the foolish king for having red tails.
They formed their own chip army.
A terrible walnut war ensued
Between "Have reds"
And "Without the reds".
Wars are terrible things
Walnuts are thrown
Back and forth
From one camp to the other.
Houses are destroyed,
Branches are broken
Little chips cry and get lost!
That is how
Apple tree's branch got
Permanently damaged in the Red Tail War.
She got that slant
And forever remained bent."
"O" said Babette
Is that so?"
"Now that I am near
I will ask the Bent Apple Tree herself
How she got her Bent."
They suddenly heard a laugh
A strange mixture of a laugh
Giggly monkey laugh
And a hollow elephant's snort.
It was the Bent Apple Tree's laugh!
"Well hello Babette
You want to ask me
How I got my slouch?
You walked all the way up here to ask me that?"
"O" said Babette
You are a unique tree crowned
There are none with your bent
You make a perfect n.
With flowers
Our hill's bestower
Come spring
You are a beautiful ring!
I came to inquire
How you came to acquire
Such a marvelous bent."
"Let me tell you then" said the bent Apple tree:
The gardner is right.
Kids played on my branches.
But, they never hurt me!
They never pulled out my leaves and my blooming flowers
They were careful never to break my branches.
I loved happy and sweet children swinging from my branches"
"Blue jay is also right. I did my best
To save many nests
Helped little chicks
Cuddled them in my leaves
I bent and bowed my branches
To keep them from crushing away in terrible storms"
"I remember the king, Terrible Chippy
His Red Tail War and the walnuts
That hit against my belly.
O,Those were terrible times
When chips waged war against their brother chips
Because of a vain and foolish king!
All chips suffer for no reason!
In the mean time they broke
Few of my branches"
" But, none and all are true and bent me!
I lived a full tree life with many leaves met many, like you Babette!
Kids, dogs, cats and goats
Owls,chipmunks and ants
Butterflies caterpillars
O but,thankfully not a lumberjack !"
"I am bent
Because I am old
That is all.
I am shaped
Like the letter n
Because I have lived long
Time bends us all."
BentAppleTreeStory©2010YankaErimtan-Babetteandfriends
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