Suddenly Vito realized, he is lost in the middle of the forest. But he was not so much scared. He is still hungry and looking for some fresh fruits.
Vito started walking forward. The forest is not so deep and there are lots of birds chirping and bunches of trees are whispering. Well, Vito can not speak nor understand tree languages. So, he is careless about what the tree might want to say to him.
“Hey boy come here. I can give you an apple.”
Suddenly Vito heard and understood the voice. Vito looked everywhere, but could not locate, where the voice would come from. There are only tall trees and some big bush around the forest.
“I am here my little boy.”
Something started moving Behind a bigger bush. Vito was scared to hear the voice first. But he is hungry too. Hunger sometimes reduces fear.
“Do not afraid. I am just a tree. A very old tree. I can do no harm to you.”
Hearing the frail voice, Vito calms down and start walking towards the bush to see who is talking.
He is quite surprised to see the strange talking apple tree. The tree almost looked like an old man. It must be hundred years old.
“My name is William Appleton and I am two hundred, no no, two thousand years old, sorry I forgot my age actually.” The tree talked almost like a real old man.
“I am Vito and I am ten years old. And…and… I am very hungry. Do you have any apple Mr. Appleton?” Vito scared a little. But, as we already knew that, sometimes too much hunger can eliminate the fear completely.
“Sure I do have apple. I am like a magic tree. Here, No tree can speak English. Only I do. That’s what you called evolution. Forget it, ok lets see, I can give you apple any time you want. But there is one condition.”
“And what is that!”
Vito can not wait anymore.
“You have to solve a riddle first. That is the rules, which I have to follow since I am able to talk like human.”
“Just tell me that riddle Mr. Appleton. I am very hungry.”
“Ok, listen very carefully”.
Then, after taking a deep breadth the old tree said in a deeper voice, “Under a big blue blanket, there is a big blue ball. What is it?”
Vito knows that, when he is hungry, his brain works faster. So he start thinking with no trouble at all.
After thinking for a short while, Vito looks upward. There is no cloud at that time, and the sky is very blue. Suddenly Vito get his first answer. The Sky is the big blue blanket! It seems like a oval shaped blue blanket, as our earth is round. Now, what might be the big blue ball? Vito’s brain is now working like a steam engine though you cannot see the smoke coming out from his ear. What might be under the sky? Vito asks himself. Suddenly Vito find himself under the sky.
“Not only me! the whole earth is under the sky! Oh yes! The big ball must be the Earth! And I know, from the outer space, the earth looks like a big blue marble. Because the ocean is blue and two-thirds of the earth is covered with water.” Vito talked with himself and before he says anything, Mr. Appleton smiles and said, “Well-done Vito, you got the answer. The sky is the big blue blanket and the Earth is the big blue ball. Here is your apple.”
A nice green apple fell from the tree. Vito took it and start eating.
“Wait!” Mr. Appleton shouted. Vito stopped eating. “One thing I must tell you, before you finished the apple! As I am a magic tree, this apple is also a magic fruit. It is a never-ending apple.”
“Wow! then what happen if I eat it?” Vito amazed.
“You just have to eat half of it and then have to put it into your pocket, then see what happens.”
Vito start eating again. Within a moment, he has eaten half of it. Then Vito put the apple into his pocket. Then the old apple tree named Mr. Appleton said, “Ok, now take the apple and see.” Vito brings out the apple from his pocket and astounded. “The apple is like a new one! It is like, nobody have ever eaten it!” At the very moment, Vito is full of joy and start biting the apple again. Then, again he put the apple in his pocket and then bring it back again. The magic apple appears to be a new one.
“Thank you very much Mr. Appleton. This is most precious, interesting and magical gift I have ever had.”
“Ok, then you can go to your home now. You do not have to work as long as you have the apple I think.”
Vito thanked Mr. Appleton again. Then he start running in the forest joyfully. After a short while, he heard some noises and found the town. Vito is now thinking what else he could do with that magic apple. Vito thought, “As long as I have this apple I don’t have to worried about food. I can play for all day long and I can go for adventure to anywhere. After that, I can start selling apple slice and make a handful of money, as the apple will heal again and again, I should not be worried about supplies. Besides, I could make thousand slices of that apple and distribute these to the other hungry boys, Yes! That’s an Idea!”