The Three Apples

The old apple tree stood in the orchard with the other trees, and all summer long it had stretched out its branches wide to catch the rain and the sun to make its apples grow round and ripe. Now it was fall, and on the old apple tree were three great apples as yellow as gold and larger than any other apples in the whole orchard. The apple tree stretched and reached as far as it could, until the branch on which the three gold apples grew hung over the orchard wall. There were the three great apples, waiting for some one to pick them, and as the wind blew through the leaves of the apple tree it seemed to sing:

"Here in the orchard are apples three,

Who uses one well shall a treasure see."

And one morning Gerald came down the lane that passed by the orchard wall. He looked longingly at the three gold apples, wishing, wishing that he might have one. Just then the wind sang its song again in the leaves of the apple tree and, plump, down to the ground, right at Gerald's feet, fell one of the three gold apples.

He picked it up and turned it round and round in his hands. How sweet it smelled, and how mellow and juicy it was! Gerald could think of nothing so good to do with such a beautiful ripe apple as to eat it. He put it to his mouth and took a great bite of it, then another bite, and another. Soon there was nothing left of the apple but the core, which Gerald threw away. He smacked his lips and went on his way, but the wind in the apple trees sang, sorrowfully, after him:

"Here in the orchard are apples two,
But gone is the treasure that fell for you."

And after a while Hilda came down the lane that passed by the orchard wall. She looked up at the two beautiful gold apples that hung on the branch of the old apple tree, and she listened to the wind as it sang in the branches to her:

"Here in the orchard are apples two,
A treasure they hold for a child like you."

Then the wind blew harder and, plump, an apple fell in the lane right in front of Hilda.

She picked it up joyfully. She had never seen so large and so golden an apple. She held it carefully in her clasped hands and thought what a pity it would be to eat it, because then it would be gone.

"I will keep this gold apple always," Hilda said, and she wrapped it up in the clean handkerchief that was in her pocket. Then Hilda went home, and there she laid away in a drawer the gold apple that the old apple tree had given her, closing the drawer tightly. The apple lay inside, in the dark, and all wrapped up, for many days, until it spoiled. And when Hilda next went down the lane and past the orchard, the wind in the apple tree sang to her:

"Only one apple where once there were two,
Gone is the treasure I gave to you."

Last of all, Rudolph went down the lane one fine fall morning when the sun was shining warm and the wind was out. There, hanging over the orchard wall, he saw just one great gold apple that seemed to him the most beautiful apple that he had ever seen. As he stood looking up at it, the wind in the apple tree sang to him, and it said:

"Round and gold on the apple tree,
A wonderful treasure, hanging, see!"

Then the wind blew harder, and down fell the last gold apple of the three into Rudolph's waiting hands.

He held it a long time and looked at it as Gerald and Hilda had, thinking how good it would be to eat, and how pretty it would be to look at if he were to save it. Then he decided not to do either of these things. He took his jack-knife out of his pocket and cut the gold apple in half, straight across, and exactly in the middle between the blossom and the stem.

Oh, the surprise that waited for Rudolph inside the apple! There was a star, and in each point of the star lay a small black seed.

Rudolph carefully took out all the seeds and climbed over the orchard wall, holding them in his hand. The earth in the orchard was still soft, for the frost had not yet come. Rudolph made holes in the earth and in each hole he dropped an apple seed. Then he covered up the seeds and climbed back over the wall to eat his apple, and then go on his way.

But as Rudolph walked down the lane, the orchard wind followed him, singing to him from every tree and bush,

"A planted seed is a treasure won.
The work of the apple is now well done."

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Apples in the fall always remind me of Mom's last autumn... She and I pealed apples day after day.. I can't even begin to tell you how many apples we pealed.. (must have been 6 or 7 bushels) We spent lots of time talking and laughing while pealing those apples.. They were awesome! She loved making home made fried apple pies, (she loved cooking anything and everything) but those pies were mouth watering! I still haven't made any since she went to heaven, but I have canned apples (we froze hers) this year.. it's just not the same by any means.. But, at the same time, Norman and I sat pealing apples until we pealed about 1 1/2 bushels.. Ever made fried apple pies?? PRECIOUS MEMORIES FOR SURE! The first thing to do is stew the apples down in nothing but butter and sugar. I like to use Granny Smith apples, peeled and cut into chunks, and cook them covered, usually about 15 to 20 minutes or so. Any good firm apple that you like with do. You'll need about 2 cups of chopped apple, so how many will just depend on their size. A medium apple should give you about one cup of chopped.

Then remove from the heat and add in some brown sugar, cinnamon and just a bit of freshly grated nutmeg. If you make peach pies, peel and chop the peaches, and then let them drain in a colander for at least 30 minutes before proceeding.

Give them a good stir, a taste to adjust the sweetness, and set them aside to cool. They should be the consistency of a sort of chunky applesauce. One thing you do not want to do is to try to wrap hot apples in your pastry - it will melt it into a mess. While the apples are cooling, prepare the dough you're using, roll it out nice and thin and cut it into rounds. I usually use a small ramekin that measures 4 inches across to cut mine. A Tervis tumbler works pretty good too.

Once you have all the rounds cut out, sprinkle them lightly with a bit of granulated sugar and refrigerate them until you are ready to assemble the fried pies. Spoon about 1 tablespoon of apple filling onto each round. Depending on the size of your apples, and how large you make your pie circles, you'll probably end up with a bit of apple filling leftover. Just eat that with your oatmeal, on pancakes or mixed in some vanilla yogurt!

Fold them over, press the edges together and then crimp them with the tines of a fork so that they are well sealed. Place them on a plate that has been lightly sprinkled with flour and stick the plate in the fridge for about 10 minutes to chill the pastry.

Pan fry, deep fry or bake them, but fry in batches so you don't overcrowd the pan and cool the oil down. I prefer to deep fry, because for one, I have a good deep fryer, and also because pan frying them absorbs more grease, while deep frying fries them faster with much less grease absorption. By the way, they are also quite good baked.

Deep fried hand pies made with a pie crust dough.

Drain on a paper towel and sprinkle with granulated sugar as soon as they come out of the fryer, or let them cool slightly and dust lightly with powdered sugar. Try not to devour the entire platter. Not that I would know anything about that.

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PRAYING FOR EACH OF YOU AND YOUR FAMILIES THAT GOD WILL BLESS EACH OF YOU SPIRITUALLY, PHYSICALLY, EMOTIONALLY, MENTALLY, FINANCIALLY AND WITH INNER PEACE, HIS LOVE, GRACE, GUIDANCE AND MERCIES. GIVING HIM THE THANKS FOR ALL THINGS IN JESUS HOLY NAME, AMEN.