|Karl and Christina were little German children. It was summer when they
came to live in the house by the bridge. As soon as they were settled
in their new home they began to go to school. The road that led to the
school went by Farmer Grün's orchard. The trees in the orchard were full
of apples. Karl and Christina would look at them when they were going
past, and they longed to have some of them to eat.
"You must never go into the orchard," their mother said; "but if any of
the apples should fall into the road, it would not be wrong for you to
pick them up."
There was one tree that stood nearer the roadside wall than the others
did, and it had bright red pippins on it. The children called this their
tree, and every time they went by it they would say, "Pretty pippins,
please to fall into the road."
Several weeks passed, and the pippins grew larger and redder; but they
did not fall into the road. Some of them dropped off; but they
fell into the orchard. By and by the harvest-time came, and
Karl Sind Christina began to think their tree would never give them
anything.
[Illustration: 0024]
One day Farmer Grün was in the orchard as they were going by. He heard
them say, "Pretty pippins, please to fall into the road." So when they
were looking the other way he threw a number of the pippins over the
wall. The children were delighted to see them, and ran to pick them up.
Then they said, "Thank you, good tree."
Farmer Grün laughed to hear them, and wondered who these queer little
folks were. He inquired about them, and found that they belonged to a
poor but honest family that had lately moved into the town. After this
he was often in the orchard gathering the apples for market. When he saw
the little brother and sister coming, he would always toss some of the
pippins over the wall where they could get them.
At last he spoke to them, and told them they might come into the orchard
on Saturdays, and pick up as many apples as they could carry home. So
Karl and Christina went many times, and worked as busily as two bees
till they got a barrel of apples for winter. Farmer Grün liked the
children because they were so honest and so willing to work.
--M. E. N. HATHEWAY.
[Illustration: 0025]