Page 235 [235]
OCR
THE ALMOND TREE. 187 month had passed she called to her husband, and said, weepi by “Tf I die, bury me under the almond tree." Then she was comforted and happy until the ninth month had passed, and then she bore a child as white as snow and as red as blood, and when she saw it her joy was so great that she died. Her husband buried her under the almond tree, and he wept sore ; time passed, and he became less sad; and after he had grieved a little more he left off, and then he took another wife. His second wife bore him a daughter, and his first wife’s child was a son, as red as blood and as white as snow. Whenever the wife looked at her daughter she felt great love for her, but whenever she looked at the little boy, evil thoughts came into her heart, of how she could get all her husband’s money for her daughter, and how the boy stood in the way; and so she took great hatred to him, and drove him from one corner to another, and gave him a buffet here and a cuff there, so that the poor child was always in disgrace; when he came back after school hours there was no peace for him. Once, when the wife went into the room upstairs, her little daughter followed her, and said, “ Mother, give me an apple.” “Ves, my child,” said the mother, and gave her a fine apple out of the chest, and the chest had a great heavy lid with a strong iron lock. “ Mother,” said the little girl, " shall not my brother have one too ? ” That was what the mother expected, and she said, “Yes, when he comes back from school.” And when she saw from the window that he was coming, an evil thought crossed her mind, and she snatched the apple, and took it from her little daughter, saying, “You shall not have it before your brother.” Then she threw the apple into the chest, and shut to the lid. Then the little boy came in at the door, and she said to him in a kind tone, but with evil looks, * My son, will you have an apple?”
